Star Wars Divergent Prequel Trilogy: Episode II – Knight of the Empire
by Duragizer
Summary: A complete rewrite of Star Wars: Episode II. Set in 51 BBY.
1. Act I

TITLE CARD: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….

A vast sea of stars serves as the main backdrop for the main title, followed by a roll up, which crawls up into infinity.

STAR WARS

KNIGHT OF THE EMPIRE

Five years have passed since Anakin Skywalker was discovered by Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi. As his apprentice, Anakin has learned much of the Force and emerged a great Jedi warrior.

The two Jedi have joined the Imperial Starfleet in its crusade against the Cartan Autonomy. Once powerful enough to challenge the Empire, the eugenic zealots have lost their foothold in Imperial Space, their clone hordes driven back to their home sector.

Yet as the power of the Autonomy wanes, another evil — a darkness out of the ancient past — stirs….

PAN UP

To reveal the head and shoulders of a man hung upside down, eyes open and glazed over in death.

ZOOM OUT

To reveal the man is a dead Imperial trooper strung upside down from a gnarled, dead tree. Beyond, in a field between the tree and a large duracrete fortress, a fierce battle is underway.

EXT. OPHUCHI — BATTLEFIELD — NIGHT

The TROOPERS OF THE IMPERIAL ARMY are engaged in pitched, deadly battle with the GEN-KNIGHTS OF THE OPHUCHI ARMY. Attired in dark gray armour and open-faced helmets, the Imperials are easily distinguished from the Gen-Knights, who wear polished black armour and face-concealing helmets with mirrored visors. The Imperial troopers press against the Gen-Knights, mowing those they catch in their sights down with red blasterfire. The Gen-Knights reciprocate with their own blue blasterfire. Soldiers on both sides go down in agony, but those who remain press on, using sheer force of will to continue against their opponents.

Descending from the star-studded night sky, two LAAT-class dropships cross over the battlefield. As the Imperial ships draw near the warzone's epicentre, Gen-Knights train their plasma cannons on the craft and open fire. With a series of twists and turns, the first dropship evades the plasmafire. The second is not so lucky; caught in a crossfire, it erupts into a vibrant fireball before plummeting like an ungainly phoenix to the ground below.

Landing amidst the Imperial troops, the sides of the dropship slide open, disgorging a new squad of troopers onto the battlefield. Leading the squad, adorned in gray trooper armour with burgundy pauldrons, are the Jedi Knights OBI-WAN KENOBI and his apprentice ANAKIN SKYWALKER. The two Jedi have changed much in the years since we saw them last; Obi-Wan sports long hair and a short beard while Anakin has grown taller and honed with lean musculature.

As one, the two Jedi draw their lightsabers. Two blades — one azure, the other cyan — ignite with a pair of sharp SNAP-HISSES. Bringing their weapons to bear, the sergeant and corporal lead their squad into the fray against the armoured Gen-Knights. The pinnacle of Ophuchi eugenic science, the black-armoured soldiers still prove little match against two Jedi; one-by-one, they fall to the plasma blades of the mystical warriors.

ANAKIN: (blocks blaster bolt with lightsaber) These guys are supposed to be the end result of five centuries of controlled, selective breeding, right?

OBI-WAN: (literally disarms Gen-Knight) That's correct.

ANAKIN: (kicks Gen-Knight in face) So why do they fight like Hutts coming from an all-you-can-eat buffet?

OBI-WAN: Pride and perfection go hand-in-hand. The greater the perfection, the greater the pride.

ANAKIN: And pride comes before a fall.

OBI-WAN: Though I detest cliches, you're correct again.

Working together, Anakin and Obi-Wan cut a swath through the Gen-Knights, working their way closer to their goal: the towering fortress yonder.

EXT. FORTRESS/BALCONY — NIGHT

Standing on a balcony overlooking the battle beyond, lips twisted in a scowl, is LORD-COMMANDANT YAJUJ JUKASSA, despot of Ophuchi. A stocky man with a trim beard and great head of silver hair, he wears a dark blue cloak over a black military uniform.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: (angry) This isn't right! This is wrong — all wrong!

With a flashy toss of his cloak, Jukassa turns to face his companion, a COLDLY BEAUTIFUL RATTATAKI WOMAN dressed in white cloak, robes, and veil. In place of organic eyes, she sports a pair of glowing white photoreceptors.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: (approaches YYO-7117) The Imperials are overwhelming my troops — troops which are supposed to be faster, more intense than mere Imperial soldiers! (beat) You promised us victory!

YYO-7117: (half-smiles) Am I to blame for the complete failure of your eugenics program?

YAJUJ JUKASSA: (points at her) Don't take that tone with me! You're here only by my blessing!

YYO-7117: (grins evilly) Are you threatening me, Lord-Commandant?

Seeing that shark-like grin, Jukassa falls silent, his expression of anger replaced with one of fear.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: They're going to spoil everything we've worked towards.

YYO-7117: Our failure doesn't guarantee their success, Lord-Commandant.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: Are you saying…?

She nods.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: (sighs) Will you cover me?

YYO-7117: I will keep them from flaying your hide long enough for you to get the job done.

Running a hand along his immaculate hair, Jukassa leaves the balcony. YYO-7117, like a graceful swan, moves along after him.

EXT. FORTRESS — NIGHT

Breaking through to the last line of Gen-Knights, Obi-Wan and Anakin come across an awesome sight. Engaged in battle with six of the armoured Gen-Knights, a vibrosword in her hands, is a FEMALE MANDALORIAN WARRIOR encased in violet-blue armour.

As two of the Gen-Knights attack the female Mandalorian, slashing their wrist-mounted vibroblades through the air, she pivots on her heels, spinning to simultaneously behead one warrior while running the other through. Pulling her blade free, she twists around as another Gen-Knight attacks. As the ebon-armoured soldier throws his bladed gauntlet forward, she locks their blades together, twisting hers at an acute angle, dislocating his wrist. As he howls with pain, she throws her leg up, kicking him squarely in the head, ending his part in the fight.

Before she can dislodge her blade, two of the remaining three Gen-Knights tackle her to the ground. As they pin her to the ground, the third Gen-Knight takes up her vibrosword. As she struggles to free herself, the black-armoured warrior with her weapon raises the sword, blade pointed down to run her through. Unsheathing a vibroblade, Anakin activates it and sends the weapon spinning through the air. The blade of vibrating durasteel plunging into the Gen-Knight's back, he cries out, dropping the vibrosword. Purchasing slack, the Mandalorian pushes up with her legs, somersaulting herself free of the two Gen-Knights' grasp. With a heavy punch and kick, she lays the two warriors down.

Retrieving her vibrosword and Anakin's own vibroblade, she turns to the two Jedi. Lifting both weapons, she points them at the knight and apprentice.

KANNEN DOOM: It's about time.

Deactivating the vibroblade, she flips it back to Anakin, who catches it effortlessly.

KANNEN DOOM: (cont'd) I figured you were leaving me to take the glory for myself.

ANAKIN: (grins) Lady, textbooks and treatises will be written about this battle one day. Not speaking for Obi-Wan, I won't be content relegated to footnotes.

KANNEN DOOM: Wanna write history? Let's write it.

Leaving the Imperial troopers to handle the remaining Ophuchi forces, the two Jedi and their Mandalorian escort enter the duracrete fortress.

INT. FORTRESS/SUBTERRANEAN TUNNELS — NIGHT

A squad of Gen-Knights stands before the closed doors of a turbolift, watching the numbers on the readout change as the cab descends. The doors sliding open, the Gen-Knights open fire, unloading a hail of blue blasterfire into the turbolift. Several seconds pass, then they lower their weapons. The squad leader steps inside the blaster-scored interior; there are no bodies — living or dead — within.

GEN-TEMPLAR: (faces men) No one inside!

As he steps back out of the turbolift, the top hatch of the cab is blown inward, allowing the Mandalorian and Jedi to leap down from above. Spinning around, the Gen-Knight only has time to heft his blaster up before Anakin engages his lightsaber and slices the soldier's arm off at the elbow. Kicking the ebon-armoured Gen-Knight in the gut, Anakin knocks him out of the way. Then, with Obi-Wan and Kannen at his side, he makes short work of the remaining Gen-Knights.

ANAKIN: These guys are just too easy.

KANNEN: (points down tunnel) The chamber's that way.

INT. FORTRESS/SUBTERRANEAN TUNNELS/ANTECHAMBER — NIGHT

Entering an antechamber at the end of the tunnel, the three compatriots find themselves before a large vault door.

KANNEN DOOM: As sharp as my sword is, it isn't quite up to cutting durasteel. You boys mind giving me a hand?

Engaging his lightsaber, Obi-Wan steps up to the door, thrusting his blade deep into the durasteel plating. With effort, he begins carving through the thick door. Activating his own lightsaber, Anakin moves in to assist him. Once they complete the circuit, they disengage their lightsabers and kick the freed metal out.

OBI-WAN: (points at hole) Ladies first.

KANNEN DOOM: Much obliged.

Ducking down, Kannen slips through the hole into the chamber beyond. Ducking down, the two Jedi follow.

INT. FORTRESS/CLONING CHAMBER — NIGHT

Through the breached door, the trio finds itself inside a vast cloning chamber. Cylindrical in shape, the chamber stretches down farther than the eye can follow. Spaced along the walls of the chamber, all occupied, are thousands upon thousands of Spaarti cloning cylinders. Catwalks lead from the walls to a platform surrounding a large power conduit situated in the centre of the chamber. Standing on the platform, busy at work at a computer terminal, is Yajuj Jukassa, the white-garbed YYO-7117 by his side.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: (to YYO-7117) They're here already! You said we'd have more time!

YYO-7117: (sighs) Continue working the system. I'll deal with our friends.

YYO-7117 turns and strides down the catwalk toward the three newcomers.

YYO-7117: Welcome, Jedi, to our humble cloning chamber. (stops midway on catwalk; gestures to Spaarti cylinders) As you can see, over four-thousand clones of Ophuchi warrior stock are _in utero_. Within four months, they'll reach maturity and emerge to serve the Autonomy. (beat) Of course, that was the goal before you came here, overwhelmed Jukassa's pitiful forces, and foiled our plans.

OBI-WAN: Do us both a favour and surrender peaceably.

YYO-7117: Surrender? (smiles) Perhaps at the end, after Jukassa takes the cylinders off-line, aborting every clone and leaving your Imperial Starfleet one conscript battalion short.

OBI-WAN: (frowns) That's just not going to happen.

YYO-7117: (grins) Try to stop me.

OBI-WAN: We won't try.

Bringing their weapons to bear, the Jedi and Mandalorian move down the ramp towards YYO-7117. Bearing her shark's grin, she unclasps her cloak, then allows a pair of short black lightsaber hilts to slip down from hidden sheathes under her sleeves into her hands. With the reflexes of a darting snake, the Rattataki engages the three others, using the pure white blades of her twin shotos to intercept their strikes. Without enough width on the catwalk to fan out, the two Jedi and Mandalorian find themselves unable to properly counterattack the insidious warrior.

YYO-7117: (laughs) The athas hold you in such high esteem!

As Anakin goes to run his lightsaber through YYO-7117, she sidesteps the blade and counter-strikes. Throwing himself backward, Anakin barely avoids losing his throat to one of the white blades.

YYO-7117: (cont'd) Surely you can do better!

ANAKIN: Better?

Springing into the air, Anakin somersaults over the woman, landing behind her.

ANAKIN: (cont'd) How's this for better?

Now less encumbered, Anakin swings his cyan blade, aiming to slice into the Rattataki's clavicle. She blocks the Jedi blade.

As the four duel on, Jukassa continues working at the terminal. With the press of the "ENTER" key, a large red square on the terminal screen turns white.

OBI-WAN: Anakin, stop Jukassa!

Anakin turns his back on the Rattataki and sprints down the catwalk toward Jukassa.

CUT TO

Kannen as she brings all the strength she can bear against the white-garbed woman.

Swinging her beskar blade with the ferocity of a gundark, Kannen makes the Rattataki work to intercept both her blows and Obi-Wan's.

YYO-7117: You're a worthy opponent, Mandalorian. We could use your stock. Through you, the Mandalorian civilization can live again.

KANNEN DOOM: I'd sooner see every remaining Mandalorian in the grave.

YYO-7117: Take the night to think it over.

Pushing downward, YYO-7117 forces the blades of her combatants against the catwalk.

CUT TO

Anakin as he reaches Jukassa.

The lord-commandant turns to face the Jedi, contempt evident on his face.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: You think you can stop me, boy‽ My great grandmother was of the soldier caste! Warrior's blood flows through my veins!

Jukassa unsheathes a vibrosword. Activating it, he brings the blade around to cleave Anakin's skull in twain. With a casual pass of his saber, Anakin slices through the metal blade as it meets the plasma shaft.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: (stammering) B-b-but —

Reaching for the base of Jukassa's neck, Anakin delivers him a Jedi nerve pinch. Eyes rolling into his head, the lord-commandant sinks to the platform out cold. Anakin then takes his place at the terminal, working furiously to bring the Spaarti cylinders back on-line.

CUT TO

YYO-7117, witnessing Jukassa's defeat.

Incensed, the Rattataki takes the ferocity of her attacks against Obi-Wan and Kannen up a notch. Kicking Obi-Wan back, she turns on Kannen and locks the blade of the vibrosword between the blades of her shotos. With a twist, she wrests the weapon out of the Mandalorian's hands, sending it over the side. Before Kannen can compensate for the loss of her weapon, the Rattataki stabs her through the left kidney.

OBI-WAN: Kannen!

Springing back up, Obi-Wan rushes YYO-7117. Pulling her blade from Kannen's side, the Rattataki turns to engage Obi-Wan. As he brings his azure blade arcing downward, she intercepts it with her left-hand shoto. Forcing his saber down, she brings her right-hand shoto up, slamming the pommel of the weapon into his temple. He collapses to the catwalk in a stupor.

Focusing her attention on Anakin, YYO-7117 leaps over Obi-Wan's form and comes racing down the catwalk toward the Jedi apprentice. As she reaches him, he spins around, catching her twin white blades with his cyan one. GROWLING, she drives him back, pinning him against the power conduit. Looking past their locked blades, she grins at him with salacious desire.

YYO-7117: I'm going to eviscerate you, but first ...

Leaning forward, she licks Anakin across the face.

YYO-7117: (cont'd) some fun.

ANAKIN: "Fun?" I thought your kind couldn't have "fun."

YYO-7117: We compensate.

ANAKIN: I see. Slip on the latex, strap me into binders, and power up the lightwhip. Am I near the target?

YYO-7117: Bullseye.

ANAKIN: That's not exactly my scene, but I'll try anything once.

Obi-Wan moves in behind the Rattataki. Grabbing her by the throat with his left hand, he drives the emitter of his inactive lightsaber into the small of her back with his right.

ANAKIN: (cont'd) Just not today.

Sighing with resignation, YYO-7117 lowers her shotos and deactivates them.

OBI-WAN: Now drop your sabers.

YYO-7117: You'd like to take me, wouldn't you?

OBI-WAN: (cont'd) Drop them.

YYO-7117: (cont'd) You want to take me. The both of you, together. You want me ... like this ... between you….

OBI-WAN: (frowns) I won't ask again.

YYO-7117: (grins) I'm not taken so easily.

The Rattataki headbutts Obi-Wan. As he releases her, she raises one of her shotos. Before either Jedi can bring up their sabers, she turns the emitter of her weapon inward and engages it, running herself through on the white plasma blade. Collapsing to her knees, she releases an almost sexual SIGH, then falls face-forward onto the platform.

Using his foot, Obi-Wan turns YYO-7117 over. As he reaches to take her pulse, the veil enveloping her head slips back, exposing the barcode tattooed across her forehead.

OBI-WAN: (looks at Anakin) Dead.

ANAKIN: (examines YYO-7117) An ATJA. Didn't think these were still being produced. (looks to Obi-Wan) Takes 'em, what, twice as long to gestate as untailored clones? To accomodate all the hardware?

OBI-WAN: And to prevent clone madness.

ANAKIN: (smirks) Put this one back in. She's not done yet.

EXT. SPACE — OPHUCHI

Leaving Ophuchi, the Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser Lancer joins the other ships of the fleet amassing beyond the planet's gravity well.

INT. LANCER/CORRIDOR #1

Obi-Wan and Anakin stride through the corridor. They've discarded their battlefield armour for the burgundy uniforms of Imperial Jedi personnel.

As they near the the sick bay, the sick bay door slides open, allowing a Caamasi officer exit. Once she is past, the Jedi slip inside.

INT. LANCER/SICK BAY

Obi-Wan and Anakin pass a number of beds before coming to the bed of Kannen Doom. Stripped of her armour, we can now see Kannen is a very handsome Human woman with thick, voluminous blond hair. Though visibly weary from her severe injury, she is conscious and alert.

KANNEN DOOM: (weary) Hello.

ANAKIN: (puts hands on belt; smiles) Hello yourself. (beat) How are you?

KANNEN DOOM: The 'droid says I'll be in tip-top shape inside two weeks. Few more immersions in a bacta tank, I'll be good as gold. (chuckles) Two more weeks like this. Gods, I'll go stir crazy.

OBI-WAN: (grins) You never could sit still for too long.

KANNEN DOOM: Any more than you could resist my wiles. (winks)

ANAKIN: I'm sure the weeks'll fly by. Don't sweat it.

KANNEN DOOM: (sighs) I guess I'll make do. (beat) You're going on leave?

OBI-WAN: Sixty days for us both.

KANNEN DOOM: Going home, spending time with kith and kin, all that jizz?

OBI-WAN: Anakin'll be off to Orron III; I'll be returning to my wife on Coruscant.

KANNEN DOOM: Wife? You got married?

ANAKIN: (elbows Obi-Wan's arm) Three months ago.

KANNEN DOOM: To that Coruscanti Jedi, Sara, right?

OBI-WAN: Siri, yes.

KANNEN DOOM: (smiles) My belated congratulations, Kenobi. You should've invited me. I would have loved to have been at the wedding. (grins salaciously) Better yet, the bachelor party.

Obi-Wan GROANS.

KANNEN DOOM: (frowns) What?

ANAKIN: (smirks) The party wasn't exactly what you'd call the last great hurrah for bachelorhood.

OBI-WAN: It would've been the last great hurrah, period.

KANNEN DOOM: My interest's piqued. Tell me more.

OBI-WAN: (waves hand) No, no more!

ANAKIN: (grins) I'll tell you later.

KANNEN DOOM: I want every juicy detail.

ANAKIN: I've a holographic memory for juicy details.

OBI-WAN: (facepalms) Grant me mercy….

KANNEN DOOM: (yawns) It's been nice catching up, gents, but it's time we called it a night. The drugs are kicking in and I'm getting a mite sleepy. See you in transit, okay?

OBI-WAN: Alright.

ANAKIN: See you.

Kannen closes her eyes to rest. Turning around, Anakin and Obi-Wan leave her.

INT. LANCER/CORRIDOR #1

Emerging from the sick bay, the Jedi Knights make their way back along the corridor.

OBI-WAN: That was certainly a robust conversation.

ANAKIN: (grins) You're not sore over me bringing the party up again, are you, Obi-Wan?

OBI-WAN: Yes, yes I am. I wish for the life of me I could erase the memories of that party from my mind forever. Your resurrecting it doesn't help me accomplish that.

ANAKIN: From what I recall, you enjoyed the party.

OBI-WAN: I did — until the Felacatian had a panic attack, shifted into her feral form, and tried to kill us all.

ANAKIN: (raises hands) The catalogue gave Occica's measurements, attributes, and one fine portfolio of snapshots, but no info on her species. Blame them, not me.

OBI-WAN: (sighs) At least the ordeal taught you a valuable lesson.

ANAKIN: (frustrated) Yes, yes, yes. Always do background checks on individuals or groups you plan on hiring in advance of hiring them.

OBI-WAN: Right. Now never bring this matter up again — ever.

ANAKIN: Of course, of course. (smirks)

OBI-WAN: (rolls eyes) You're going to be the death of me.

ANAKIN: Maybe next incarnation. (beat) Kannen. (beat) Still hard to think of her as a Mandalorian. She's nothing like the Death Watchmen.

OBI-WAN: Mandalorians aren't all like Vizsla and his ilk, Anakin. They're as diverse as the Jedi.

ANAKIN: It's hard to forget first impressions.

OBI-WAN: Don't forget them, Anakin. Just remember to keep them in perspective.

THE VOICE: (O.S.) Skywalker….

ANAKIN: (stops and turns around) Yes?

But there's no one behind him.

OBI-WAN: Something the matter?

ANAKIN: Someone right behind me. (frowns) Voice sounded familiar.

OBI-WAN: I heard no one.

They resume their stride.

INT. LANCER/CORRIDOR #2

ANAKIN: Y'know, Nashira would like to see you and Siri again. It's been two years since the last visit.

OBI-WAN: I know, and she and I'd both like to take a trip to Orron III….

ANAKIN: It's the baby, isn't it?

OBI-WAN: (nods) This is our first successful pregnancy, but the danger she could miscarry is still high. Neither of us want to risk a long-distance journey right now.

ANAKIN: I understand. (beat) Maybe we could visit you.

OBI-WAN: The DuQuesnes didn't have the funds to charter a flight to Coruscant.

ANAKIN: I'm sure I could pull a few strings. (smiles) I am a Jedi corporal, after all.

OBI-WAN: An enlisted rank. Jedi or not, I don't think it carries much weight among the top brass.

ANAKIN: It wouldn't hurt to try.

EXT. NAR SHADDAA — CORELLIAN SECTOR — TWILIGHT

Countless starships and airspeeders swarm about like angry hornets in the heavily polluted sky of Nar Shadda, passing around and between the innumerable rusted skyscrapers which reach up from the decaying surface of the moon.

INT. MELTDOWN CAFÉ — TWILIGHT

A dank, filthy place illumed with red lighting, the Meltdown Café is packed with clientele, most of whom are visibly disreputable types. Sitting at a small round table in the back corner of the establishment, out of place in his surroundings, is a relatively clean-looking H'drachi, IMUNAFAS. Visibly nervous, Imunafas chain smokes cigarette after cigarette, crushing one out and lighting another before finishing its predecessor. Resting on the floor beside him is a metal briefcase.

As the H'drachi worriedly smokes, a waitress — an incredibly emaciated Human with sparse, stringy hair and a lazy eye — approaches his table.

WAITRESS: (takes out datapad and stylus) What'll ye be havin'?

IMUNAFAS: (looks at waitress; stammering) Oh no, nothing, please. I'm not hungry. I'm just waiting for someone.

WAITRESS: (sighs) Look, this is an eatin' and drinkin' establishment. Ye come in here ta eat or drink, not ta sit 'n' stare like a stuffed bird. If all yer gonna consume is that goddamn smoke, then ye can take yer ass out o' here and free up space fer payin' customers.

IMUNAFAS: I'll have a glass of Saurin brandy, then — a small one.

WAITRESS: (takes order down on datapad) Yer wish is meh command, meh lord.

The waitress saunters off, leaving Imunafas back to himself. Getting back to his chain smoking, he takes a glance at his wrist chronometre.

Minutes pass, then a new figure — a TALL KUBAZ adorned in a dark green overcoat — enters the Meltdown. Taking a gander at the sapients packing the place, he notices the H'drachi at his secluded spot and approaches him.

IMUNAFAS: Are you Akkhar? Are you the one I've been waiting for?

AKKHAR utters something in Huttese. Judging by the artificial sound of the words, they come from a mechanical device rather than his own vocal cords.

IMUNAFAS: I'm sorry, I don't understand Huttese.

The Kubaz adjusts the settings of his wrist-worn translator control unit.

AKKHAR: Did you bring my money?

IMUNAFAS: (places hand on briefcase) It's here.

AKKHAR: Very good.

As Akkhar reaches for the briefcase, the rotund H'drachi slaps his hand away.

IMUNAFAS: No, not until you fill your end of the bargain.

AKKHAR: (rubs slapped hand) Outside, then.

IMUNAFAS: The alley?

AKKHAR: The alley.

Turning, the Kubaz walks away. Hefting up his briefcase, the H'drachi follows him.

EXT. MELTDOWN CAFÉ — ALLEY — TWILIGHT

Imunafas stands waiting in the alley alone. Clutching the briefcase to his chest, he taps his foot impatiently.

AKKHAR: (O.C.) Here she is.

From the shadows Akkhar emerges, a small H'drachi child led before him. In Akkar's right hand is a blaster pistol, the barrel of which is pressed into the back of the child's neck.

IMUNAFAS: Kleu!

KLEU: Papi!

AKKHAR: Alright, Imunafas, here's your daughter. Now slide the case over.

IMUNAFAS: Kleu first!

AKKHAR: No dice. The case.

Imunafas sets the briefcase down and pushes it to Akkhar with his foot. Taking care not to lose his grip on Kleu, the Kubaz pops the lid of the case open with his foot, revealing the contents: several small bars of gold.

AKKHAR: Wait a minute. (looks at Imunafas) This is only half! Where's the rest‽

IMUNAFAS: The rest?

AKKHAR: (angry) We agreed — 100,000 peggats! This is fifty! (repositions blaster against Kleu's temple) I don't like being toyed with, H'drachi. Now you tell me —

Before Akkhar can finish his thought, a razor-edged metal disc comes whirling out from the darkness of the alley at nigh-invisible speeds. As it impacts against the Kubaz, it passes through him — through his chest, through his right wrist. Releasing an untranslatable Kubaz SCREAM, Akkhar collapses, already dead as he hits the damp pavement. Kleu runs to her father, who hugs her to him.

KLEU: Papi!

IMUNAFAS: Oh, Kleu! Kleu!

As Imunafas holds his sobbing daughter close, two tall, intimidating figures emerge from the shadows: LLOMON the Trandoshan and MAHTTOH the Wookiee. Mahttoh — his black fur streaked with silver — is naked save for a gunbelt worn about his hips and a lanvarok secured to his left wrist. Llomon — sporting midnight green scales and attired in a black-and-white spacer's suit — carries a slugthrower rifle in his long arms. Striding up to the remains of Akkhar, they look upon the corpse, inspecting their handiwork.

IMUNAFAS: Thank you.

LLOMON: (speaking through translator) We don't care for your thanks.

Bending down, the Trandoshan closes the briefcase and hoists it up.

LLOMON: Our business is concluded.

Turning, Llomon leaves and re-enters the shadows, leaving the two H'drachi momentarily alone with his partner. Giving them a short Wookiee LAUGH, the hirsute bounty hunter turns and follows the Trandoshan into Nar Shaddaa's night.

EXT. SPACE — ORRON III

A freighter drops out of hyperspace and makes its run for the green-and-blue agricultural planet.

EXT. SPACE — CORUSCANT

A passenger liner drops out of hyperspace and makes its run for the bronze ecumenopolis.

INT. FREIGHTER/COCKPIT

As the Ithorian pilot and copilot maneuver the ship's controls in the seats before him, Anakin looks out the window to his right, at Orron III beyond.

INT. PASSENGER LINER/PASSENGER DECK

As a sleeping Ithorian snores in the seat beside him, Obi-Wan looks out the window to his left, at Coruscant beyond.

EXT. ORRON III — SPACEPORT/TARMAC — SUNRISE

The freighter has landed and its few passengers are filing out. Anakin is among them.

EXT. CORUSCANT — GALACTIC CITY — SPACEPORT/TARMAC — SUNSET

The liner has landed and its many passengers are filing out. Obi-Wan is among them.

INT. ORRON III — FLOWER SHOP — SUNRISE

Anakin hands a bouquet of flowers to the Neimoidian teller. Taking the flowers, she brings out her scanner and scans the barcode.

NEIMOIDIAN TELLER: That'll be 32 ingots.

ANAKIN: (hands her ingots) Keep the change.

INT. CORUSCANT — CANDY STORE — SUNSET

Obi-Wan hands a box of chocolates to the Duros teller. Taking the box, she brings out her scanner and scans the barcode.

DUROS TELLER: That'll be 23 credits.

OBI-WAN: (hands her credits) Keep the change.

EXT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — COURTYARD — SUNRISE

A taxi glides to a stop before the quaint, cozy house of the DuQuesne family. Opening the side door, Anakin steps out.

EXT. CORUSCANT — GALACTIC CITY — 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX — SUNSET

A taxi glides to a stop before the 662 Gasgar Valley flat complex. Opening the side door, Obi-Wan steps out.

EXT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — COURTYARD — SUNRISE

Anakin stands before the front door, the bouquet of flowers in his left hand. He tugs at the tight collar of his black shirt as the door opens.

INT. CORUSCANT — 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/TURBOLIFT — SUNSET

Obi-Wan stands in the turbolift, the box of chocolates under his arm. He tugs at the tight collar of his white shirt as the turbolift completes its ascent and the doors open.

INT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/LIVING AREA — SUNRISE

As Anakin enters the living area, he finds two individuals — NEMEC and CORIN DUQUESNE — waiting for him.

ANAKIN: (grins) 'Shira?

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/ANAKIN & NASHIRA'S BED CHAMBER — SUNRISE

Entering the bed chamber, Anakin finds Nashira. Seated on the chair to the left of her bed, dressed in pajamas, Nashira stares into the mirror, brushing her short red hair as bright yellow sunlight falls upon the back of her head from the uncovered window. The joy upon her face is evident.

NASHIRA: (faces Anakin) Nik!

Rising from the chair, Nashira moves up to her boyfriend. Wrapping her arms around him, she plants her lips on his, kissing him passionately. His fingers opening, the bouquet of flowers falls from Anakin's grasp, hitting the floor with a light RUSTLE.

INT. CORUSCANT — 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT/LIVING AREA — SUNSET

As Obi-Wan enters the living area, he finds it empty, the lights off.

OBI-WAN: (frowns) Siri?

INT. 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT/BED CHAMBER — SUNSET

Entering the bed chamber, Obi-Wan finds Siri. Seated on the chair to the right of their bed, dressed in a nightgown, Siri stares out the window, the heavy orange sunlight falling upon her face from between the window blind's slats. The sorrow upon her face is evident.

SIRI: (faces Obi-Wan) Obi….

Rising from the chair, Siri moves up to her husband. Wrapping her arms around him, she plants her face in the hollow of his neck, weeping bitterly. His fingers opening, the box of chocolates falls from Obi-Wan's grasp, hitting the floor with a hollow THUD.

INT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/ANAKIN & NASHIRA'S BED CHAMBER — SUNRISE

Anakin and Nashira stand together silently in each others' arms.

INT. CORUSCANT — 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT/BED CHAMBER — SUNSET

Obi-Wan and Siri stand together silently in each others' arms.

EXT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — MAIZE FIELDS — DAY

Nemec DuQuesne rides his combine through the vast, sprawling fields of maize, mowing down and harvesting thousands of ripe stalks as he moves onward. Driving alongside him in a trailer, collecting the freshly mowed-and-ground maize, is Anakin. Due to the advanced age of both vehicles, neither has functioning air conditioning, leaving Anakin and Nemec to sweat profusely within their cabs under the full midday sun.

Without warning, the engine of Anakin's trailer begins shuddering violently. With an unwelcome SPUTTER and COUGH, the engine blows out and the vehicle dies. Unaware of what just transpired, Nemec keeps the combine rolling forward, leaving ground maize to pour upon the ground.

ANAKIN: Oh, for the love of —

Opening the cab door, Anakin leaps out of the trailer. Running after the combine, he begins yelling and waving his arms.

ANAKIN: (shouting) Nemec! Hey, Nemec! Stop the combine! You're dumping maize everywhere! Stop, man! Stop!

Hearing Anakin's panicked cries, Nemec hits the breaks. As the large combine grinds to a halt, Nemec powers down the thresher, discontinuing the maizefall.

NEMEC: (opens cab door; leans out) What happened‽

ANAKIN: Dunno. The engine just seized!

NEMEC: (sighs; runs hand through hair) Figures. (beat) I guess that's that for the day. We'll look at the engine tomorrow and see if we can't get the old girl purring again. (beat) Hop in.

ANAKIN: (waves hand dismissively) You go ahead. I think I'll catch the breeze.

Closing the cab door, Nemec starts forward again, leaving Anakin behind. Anakin puts his hands in his pockets and begins his leisurely walk, whistling as he takes in his surroundings.

THE VOICE: (O.S.) Skywalker….

Anakin stops whistling and walking.

THE VOICE: (O.S.) I'm here, Skywalker.

Sensing the voice's owner behind him, he spins around to face them. There is no one there.

THE VOICE: (O.S.) Skywalker….

EXT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — COURTYARD — DAY

Arriving at the DuQuesne homestead, Anakin finds Nemec and Nemec's wife, Corin, in wait for him. Corin stands with a tray of iced tea in her hands, Nemec seated in a sun chair with a glass in his hand beside her. With the two spouses so close together, it's impossible not to compare them. Both tall, both blond, both attractive, one couldn't be blamed if they thought they were siblings rather than spouses.

CORIN: You must be thirsty after all that work and that long walk, Anakin. Have a glass.

ANAKIN: Thanks, Corin.

Taking the glass of iced tea, Anakin downs it in one long, uninterrupted swallow.

CORIN: (eyes widening) My, you must be thirsty. Have some more. (pours more tea into Anakin's glass)

NEMEC: Pull a chair up, Nik. Take a load off.

ANAKIN: (takes sip of refreshed tea) Thanks, but I think I'll head inside for a shower first.

Nodding to Nashira's parents, he steps past them for the door. The man and wife exchange glances, cocking their eyebrows in unison.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/REFRESHER/SHOWER — DAY

Stripping off his sweaty clothes, Anakin steps inside the shower. Closing the door, he turns the water on, allowing a stream of fresh, clean water to hit him full-on in the face. Taking a bar of soap, he begins lathering himself up.

As Anakin works himself clean, a SHADOWY HUMAN FIGURE can be seen entering the 'fresher. Silent, the silhouette crosses over to the occupied shower. Completely oblivious, Anakin doesn't notice as the dark shade approaches the closed shower door, slowly raises an arm to grip it, then suddenly — violently — wrenches it open.

ANAKIN: YAH!

Surprised, Anakin jumps back, nearly slipping in the shower. Nashira, for her part, laughs hysterically.

ANAKIN: (irate) Nashira! I could've slipped and broke my damn neck! Don't ever do that again!

NASHIRA: (pouts sexily) Ohhh, you big bad baby. As if you'd ever slip, man o' mine.

ANAKIN: Close the door, will ya? Water's getting all over the floor.

NASHIRA: (looks at water spraying out onto floor) Hmm, I guess I should. (looks at Anakin; grins salaciously) Shouldn't I?

At that, Nashira begins undressing. Taking her time, Nashira unbuttons her powder blue blouse, pulling it open and down to expose her naked shoulders and flat stomach. Once that is done, she unzips her dark brown pants and slowly works them down, exposing her long, shapely legs. With both shirt and pants off, Nashira stands there in her black undergarments, bearing her body to her man. In the years that have passed since we last saw her, Nashira has matured from a pretty young girl into a beautiful young woman with the sensuous body of a love goddess.

ANAKIN: (eyes Nashira) ...

Grinning broadly, Nashira steps into the shower. Closing the door behind her, she slips her arms around Anakin's neck.

NASHIRA: No water getting out on the floor now.

ANAKIN: No, no ... of course not now.

Leaning forward, Anakin brings his face close to Nashira's and reaches behind to rest his hands on the small of her back. Pressing his lips against hers, he slides his hands up to her shoulder blades and begins working to remove her bra. As water cascades down the bodies of the two lovers, Nashira's satin undergarments drop to the shower floor.

INT. CORUSCANT — 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT/DINING AREA — NIGHT

Obi-Wan and Siri sit on opposite ends of the small dining table, facing one another. Though they both poke at the food on their plates, neither are hungry.

OBI-WAN: The recipe called for twenty minutes, but I left it in an extra five. I didn't overcook anything?

SIRI: (sullen) It's fine.

OBI-WAN: Do you need salt?

SIRI: I don't need salt.

An awkward moment of silence passes between them.

OBI-WAN: Siri, maybe we should talk about ... what happened.

SIRI: No. Just eat.

OBI-WAN: We can't avoid this. We have to —

SIRI: (enraged) I don't want to talk about it!

In anger, Siri stabs her plate violently, breaking it in half.

SIRI: ARGH!

Bolting from her chair, she races from the room. Abandoning his dinner, Obi-Wan follows her.

EXT. 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT/BALCONY — NIGHT

Siri stands out on the balcony, her grip around the railing tight. Eyes shut tight and teeth bared in a grimace, she WEEPS. Slowly, cautiously, Obi-Wan joins her, placing his hands on her shoulders to comfort her.

SIRI: I lost our baby, Obi-Wan! I lost him! I lost him!

Wrapping his arms around her, Obi-Wan kisses her temple, then rests his head on her shoulder.

OBI-WAN: He's gone home to the Force.

SIRI: I wanted to see him, Obi, to hold him in my arms once. I wanted him to know I loved him. (beat) That I wanted him.

OBI-WAN: We'll try again.

SIRI: (faces him) Try again? For what? For another miscarriage? For another baby born dead?

OBI-WAN: We'll wait 'til the treatments have run their course. We will be parents. I promise.

Taking hold of him, Siri buries her face in his chest.

SIRI: I need out of here! Away from this dead city, this dead planet! (beat) Please, Obi-Wan….

Siri continues sobbing, clutching her husband to her tightly. Rubbing her back gently, Obi-Wan looks up, regarding the durasteel buildings sprawled out beyond the balcony, windows aglow with artificial light.

EXT. OPHUCHI — PRISON — LANDING PLATFORM — DAY

On a duracrete platform stationed beyond the prison, under a stormy gray sky which matches his disposition, Yajuj Jukassa stands, surrounded by six armed prison guards, arms and legs shackled. His black military uniform traded in for a set of unflattering flannel coveralls, he no longer carries the same imperious bearing he once had. Beside before him stands the warden, four armed guards, and the entrance ramp to a transport shuttle.

WARDEN: There's a nice, clean breeze today, isn't there, Lord-Commandant? (takes deep breath) Have yourself some of that crisp, fresh air while you can; there won't be much of any where you're going. (to four guards) He's all yours.

The four guards motion with their weapons for Jukassa to board the shuttle. Expression grim, the ex-dictator complies; the four guards flanking him, he climbs the ramp.

Once Jukassa and the guards are aboard, the ramp in drawn into the shuttle and the shuttle lifts off.

INT. SHUTTLE/LOADING COMPARTMENT — DAY

Yajuj Jukassa faces the four guards. The dark visors of their helmets pulled over their eyes, it's impossible to read the guards' expressions.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: (brings restrained hands forward) Well, aren't you going to free me of these?

GUARD #1: At once, Lord-Commandant. (faces guard on his right) Unfasten his restraints.

Nodding once, the guard takes a key and unfastens Jukassa's chains.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: (rubs wrists) We're off to Nar Shaddaa?

GUARD #1: Yes, milord. The Imperials will be unable to persecute you in the heart of Hutt Space. They have no jurisdiction there.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: (sighs) The Lord-Commandant of Ophuchi reduced to seeking sanctuary on a polluted cesspool like Nar Shaddaa. It's criminal.

GUARD #1: It's only temporary, milord. Ophuchi will be yours once more.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: Much as I would like to believe that were true, I must face reality. My reign on this world is over — completely and finally over. (beat) But I can still have vengeance — my complete and final vengeance.

EXT. SPACE — OPHUCHI

Free of Ophuchi's gravity, the shuttle housing Jukassa and his loyalists leaps to hyperspace.

INT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/ANAKIN & NASHIRA'S BED CHAMBER — DAY

Anakin is seated at his desk, immersed in a datapad, when he hears a RAP-RAP-RAP at his door.

ANAKIN: It's open.

Setting the datapad down as the door opens, Anakin looks up, into the mirror affixed to the wall over the desk. The face he sees in the door behind him is male, gaunt, stained with dirt and blood. Startled, Anakin spins around. It's only Corin standing there, as fresh-faced and feminine as ever.

ANAKIN: (takes breath) You wanted something?

CORIN: You've got a message on the comm: Obi-Wan Kenobi.

ANAKIN: I'll be right there.

Rising from his chair, Anakin follows Corin out the door.

INT. DUQUESNE HOUSEHOLD/COMM BOOTH — DAY

Entering the small, windowless room, Anakin strides over to the controls of a medium-sized comm unit. With the press of a blue button, Obi-Wan's face pops up on the wall display.

OBI-WAN: Hello, Nik. I'm not disturbing you, I hope. (beat) Anakin ... (sighs) Siri lost the child. It happened a few days before I got back.

ANAKIN: Stars.

OBI-WAN: (cont'd) She and I feel it'd be best to leave Coruscant, see some friends. Is it alright if we came to stay with you awhile? I know you'll have to get permission from the DuQuesnes. Get back to us when you receive the word. And thank you.

With that, the recording ends. Rising from the chair, Anakin turns around; Nemec stands in the open door.

NEMEC: I heard everything, Nik. (beat) Tell your friends they're welcome to come right on over.

Thanking Nemec with a slight nod and smile, Anakin returns to the comm unit.

DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — MONTAGE

With the rising of a new sun on this side of Orron III, we watch the events of Anakin's morning unfold from beginning to end. Following a rude awakening when Nashira, shrieking like a harpy, bursts into his room, jumps on top of his bed, and begins beating him over the head with one of his pillows, Anakin promptly hurries to get ready for the day and joins the rest of the DuQuesne family at the breakfast table. Following a hearty breakfast of green eggs and ham, he joins them on farm chores. While Nashira and Nemec team up to work with the combine and trailer to finish the season's harvest, Anakin helps Corin take inventory and work on repairing faulty equipment.

EXT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — DAY

With the passing of morning into afternoon, Anakin's chores have ended for the day. Tonight is the night Obi-Wan and Siri are due to arrive after a long voyage from Coruscant, and Anakin has to leave to pick them up at the spaceport.

Having promptly showered and dressed in fresh clothes, Anakin guides the DuQuesne family landspeeder out of the garage. As he uses a remote control to close the garage door, Nashira and her parents appear from out the house, coming around to Anakin's right side to see him off. Nashira has a satchel slung across her left shoulder.

ANAKIN: I'm off, guys.

Unslinging her satchel, Nashira dumps it in the back seat.

ANAKIN: What's in there?

NASHIRA: Supplies.

ANAKIN: I already have everything I need.

NASHIRA: And you know me; I hate sharing.

Anakin throws Corin and Nemec a look.

CORIN: She's going with you.

ANAKIN: (incredulous) It's a six-hour trip.

NASHIRA: (narrows eyes) What are you insinuating?

ANAKIN: Nothing! But it's six hours!

NASHIRA: (jumps in passenger seat) Enough time to be back for a late dinner.

Reaching around to the back seat, Nashira takes the satchel and unzips it. Reaching inside, she fishes out a small music disc.

CORIN: It's good to get her off the farm once in a blue moon.

ANAKIN: (resigned) I suppose.

Grinning broadly, Nashira punches Anakin in the arm — hard. Wincing in pain, Anakin rubs the tender spot. He then kicks the speeder into overdrive, burning repulsorlift as he peels out of the driveway. Grinning grins as broad as their daughter's, Nemec and Corin wave after the pair as they move off into the distance.

EXT. HIGHWAY — MONTAGE

As they emerge onto the open highway, Nashira slides her disc into the landspeeder's music player; instrumental theremin music begins playing over the speakers. As the speeder makes its way along the long highway, the intense music reverberates across the empty grasslands surrounding the duracrete road, seeming to transform the entire landscape into one vast echo chamber.

Nashira spends the drive alternating between silently listening to music and chatting with Anakin while he keeps his eyes out on the open road. As the sun moves across the sky and lowers toward the horizon, Anakin and Nashira pass by another small farm, a herd of grazing jackalopes, and eventually an old, burned-out ruin.

EXT. HIGHWAY — SUNSET

After almost three hours, the music has come to an end and the sun has begun to set.

INT. LANDSPEEDER — SUNSET — TRAVELLING

As the spaceport appears as a spot on the horizon in the far distance, the radiance of the departing sun bathes Nashira's face in its warm light. Seemingly transfixed by the red glow, a wistful expression passes over her features.

NASHIRA: Nik?

ANAKIN: Hmm?

NASHIRA: You never told us why they chose to visit now, after all this time.

ANAKIN: Why would you visit old friends?

NASHIRA: They're really here because of the baby.

Anakin clams up. Facing him, Nashira regards him, intense blue eyes almost aglow.

NASHIRA: Have you ... ever thought about our future together?

ANAKIN: I have. Of course I have.

NASHIRA: Have you ... thought about children.

Anakin doesn't answer.

NASHIRA: Do you — if we choose to — do you think ...?

ANAKIN: (uncomfortable) Another time, Nashira.

Nashira starts to say something more, but cuts herself off. Turning from him, to the setting sun, she surrenders herself to its scarlet radiance.

INT. SPACEPORT/TERMINAL — SUNSET

Obi-Wan and Siri stand in a line as they proceed through a security checkpoint. Guarding the checkpoint, clad in their brown uniforms and riot armour, are several ESPOS — officers of the Corporate Sector Authority's Security Police. Though they make no overt motions of hostility toward the new arrivals, they radiate pure, undiluted menace, their stun batons deliberately held out in the open as a warning to any and all not to cross them.

As Siri and Obi-Wan's turn comes to cross the checkpoint, an Espo with a weapon detector approaches them. As he runs the detector over the length of their bodies, the detector's warning light begins flashing.

ESPO #1: (to other Espos) Got something!

Five other Espos step forward, activating their stun batons. Taking a collective step back, Siri and Obi-Wan raise their hands in compliance. Approaching them, one of the Espos begins frisking them. It takes only a moment for him to uncover and procure their lightsabers.

ESPO #2: What are these?

SIRI: Lightsabers.

ESPO #1: Jedi?

OBI-WAN: Yes.

ESPO #1: Do you have authorization to carry these weapons inside the Corporate Sector?

The spouses slowly reach inside their utility belts and withdraw a pair of identical cards. A third Espo takes their cards. Pulling out a card reader, he runs each of the cards through in turn. When the green LED lights up for both, he nods to Espo #1.

ESPO #1 (to Espo #2) Give them back their weapons.

Espo #2 hands the lightsabers back to the Jedi. Silently, they clip the weapons back on their belts, eyes focused on Espo #1.

EPSO #1: (grins) Enjoy your stay on Orron III.

Passing through the checkpoint, the Jedi make their way to the exit. Once out of earshot of the Espos, they face each other.

OBI-WAN: It's nice to see Espo security still as tight as ever.

Siri responds with a SCOFF.

EXT. SPACEPORT — SUNSET

As Obi-Wan and Siri step out of the terminal into the open air of Orron III, they spot Anakin and Nashira already there, just beyond the front doors in wait for them.

As the two parties converge, Siri breaks away from Obi-Wan and strides up to Nashira. As the two women embrace, Siri — overcome with emotion — smiles and weeps in unison.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/DINING AREA — NIGHT

Another three hours pass, and Anakin and Nashira have returned home with Obi-Wan and Siri. They have all joined Nemec and Corin at the dinner table, where they are currently engaged in light conversation.

CORIN: Siri, I don't believe I've commented on your hair.

SIRI: I don't believe so, no.

CORIN: Well, it's simply a gorgeous hairstyle. It looks absolutely stunning on you.

SIRI: (smiles) Thank you.

CORIN: Does it have a name? The style.

SIRI: It's a vaddul chignon.

CORIN: Strange name — curious.

SIRI: It's named after its creator, Vaddul Aiisio Huiun.

CORIN: Sounds like a Hutt name.

SIRI: He is a Hutt.

Corin gives a silent "Ah."

NASHIRA: I've an idea.

Everyone at the table regards the young lady with open ears.

NASHIRA: (cont'd) That old amusement park in town's having its grand reopening in two days.

NEMEC: Zorqo's Zoo of Zaniness?

NASHIRA: With the harvest over, we could take the trip out there, have a day of fun for ourselves.

CORIN: Wasn't the new owner run out of the Tion Hegemony? Something about shady business dealings?

NASHIRA: (waves hand dismissively) Idle gossip.

NEMEC: Corin?

CORIN: I suppose it wouldn't hurt to check the old place out….

NASHIRA: (grins) Prime!

INT. NAR SHADDAA — KORBEE TOWER/PENTHOUSE/LIVING AREA — DAY

Within the living area of Korbee Tower's penthouse suite, we find Mahttoh decked out asleep on a large sofa. Judging by the litter strewn about the room — along with the two female wookoids asleep in Mahttoh's arms — a rather rowdy party was hosted here the night before.

INT. KORBEE TOWER/PENTHOUSE/LLOMON'S BED CHAMBER — DAY

As with the living area, this bed chamber, too, is a mess, with a pair of female trandoids curled under the covers with Llomon. As he wakes from his booze-induced slumber, Llomon sits up with a reptilian YAWN. Caring not a bit if he disturbs his companions, the Trandoshan kicks the covers off himself and rises.

INT. KORBEE TOWER/PENTHOUSE/KITCHEN — DAY

Passing through the living area, by the sleeping simians, Llomon enters the kitchen. Crossing to the refrigerator, he gets out a single mauve egg the size of a football. Smacking his lizard lips hungrily, he takes a seat at the small kitchen table. Placing the egg in a large egg cup on the table, Llomon punches a hole in the shell with his pinky claw. Then, with a great big Trandoshan smile, he inserts a straw through the hole.

INT. KORBEE TOWER/PENTHOUSE/LIVING AREA — DAY

Awakening, Llomon's two reptilian lady friends saunter into the living area wearily, nursing strong hangovers. As they pass within range of Mahttoh and his girls, they draw their muzzles back in disgust as the strong odour of lingering mammalian pheromones washes over them.

A comm unit on the wall begins TRILLING with an incoming transmission. Leaving his half-finished egg, Llomon re-enters the living area. Uttering curses in Dosh, he strides up to the sleeping wookoids and violently shakes them awake. As they come to, the Trandoshan turns to his trandoid companions. As the comm continues its siren, Llomon herds all four women to the front door, opens it, and kicks them out, slamming the door in their faces. Racing over to the unit, Llomon picks up the line. The Human face of one of Yajuj Jukassa's loyalists appears on-screen.

GUARD #2: I trust this is Llomon the Trandoshan I am addressing?

Llomon responds in the affirmative; the Human fails to understand his Dosh. Realizing for the first time he doesn't have his translator on him, the Trandoshan holds a claw up for the Human to wait then leaves to find his translator. Moments later Llomon returns, the translator apparati affixed to his neck and wrist, set to transmit in Basic.

LLOMON: (in Basic) I am Llomon.

GUARD #2: I trust this is a secure line?

LLOMON: (annoyed) I wasn't hatched yesterday. What is it you want?

GUARD #2: After arriving on Nar Shaddaa several weeks ago, my employer set me to the task of finding a bounty hunter or hunters who would be adequate for an endeavour which he has determined to be of the utmost importance. After making a series of inquiries, we have come to the conclusion that you along with your partner are the most qualified candidates.

LLOMON: Has anyone ever told you you use too many words to say so little?

GUARD #2: (sighs) My employer has a job for you and Mahttoh.

LLOMON: I gathered as much.

GUARD #2: He wishes me to tell you no more. Agree to meet in person and he'll reveal the details personally.

LLOMON: Where and when?

GUARD #2: In his chambers at The Chance Castle, 6100 tonight.

LLOMON: Room number?

GUARD #2: You'll find me waiting at the main entrance. I'll give you the number then.

Llomon nods his acceptance. The comm display goes dark.

Deactivating his translator, Llomon leaves the comm unit and strides over to the sofa, where Mahttoh — in spite of all the commotion caused by the comm and the ladies' departure — is still asleep. Placing a clawed foot on the Wookiee's shoulder, the Trandoshan pushes the Wookiee off the sofa. Hitting the floor, Mahttoh wakes with a Wookiee WAIL.

MAHTTOH: (in Shyriiwook, subtitled) What the kark‽ (looks about room) Where are Suroow and Ghueew?

LLOMON: (in Dosh, subtitled) A potential client called. He wants to meet us tonight.

MAHTTOH: (subtitled) What time?

LLOMON: (subtitled) 6100 at The Chance Castle. So get up, go to the 'fresher, and have a shower. He won't hire us if you come stinking of Wookiee love musk.

INT. CHANCE CASTLE/CORRIDOR — NIGHT

Slipping discreetly inside, Llomon and Mahttoh are led by Jukassa's man to a door guarded by his comrade-in-arms. After exchanging salutes with his peer, the guard steps aside and opens the door.

INT. CHANCE CASTLE/JUKASSA'S QUARTERS/LIVING AREA — NIGHT

Inside, the three find Jukassa seated in a spacious armchair in wait for them, an active datapad in his hand. The former despot is reading the contents of the pad casually and without haste, seemingly oblivious to the presence of his guests.

GUARD #2: Lord-Commandant.

Taking his eyes off the pad, Jukassa looks at his servant. In all other regards, he remains immobile.

GUARD #2: (gestures to Trandoshan and Wookiee) These are Llomon and Mahttoh, Lord, the bounty hunters I sought out for you.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: Yes, I know. (to bounty hunters) You can come forward. (to guard) You — leave.

As the guard goes to leave the room, it is clear from his body language that in spite of his own bearing as a born-and-bred warrior, he lives in abject fear of this ex-tyrant. Conversely, as the pair of merciless killers approach Jukassa, it is clear fear is the last emotion the man elicits from them.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: You're precisely on time. I admire that in a sapient. Were either of your races bred for punctuality?

LLOMON: (sneers) What?

YAJUJ JUKASSA: (cocks eyebrow) I gather not. Still, your kind have potential. They would do well to adopt eugenic programs in the near future.

LLOMON: You have a job.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: Yes — yes, indeed I do. (beat) My name is Yajuj Jukassa, out of Lilitu by Majuj. Have you heard of me?

MAHTTOH: (speaking through translator) No.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: (sighs) Unfortunate. (beat) I was the Lord-Commandant of Ophuchi, the 45th of one-hundred sons. Ours was a proud dynasty, one which endured for over twelve generations. We shepherded our people faithfully, keeping them free of genetic contamination and regression.

LLOMON: How sad. The point you're driving at?

YAJUJ JUKASSA: (frowns) The point I am "driving at" is that I was dethroned and exiled. In disgrace I was forced to leave my Ophuchi — my beautiful, gem-oceaned Ophuchi — for this rancid Hutt cesspool. Forced by infidels and apostates to wallow amongst impure filth. (angry) I crave retribution! It will be mine!

Jukassa hurls his datapad across the room, dashing it to pieces against the opposing wall.

LLOMON: We aren't soldiers-for-hire.

MAHTTOH: If you want help retaking your world, hire the Federation Neimoidia.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: I'm not looking to recapture the throne. I'm too keenly aware that I don't have the finances to support such a crusade. All I seek is a pure and final revenge.

LLOMON: Who's our target?

YAJUJ JUKASSA: Your targets (reaches inside tunic) are these.

Withdrawing a pair of photographs, Jukassa hands them to Llomon. Taking the squares of flexible plastic, the lizard man looks them over.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Jedi.

MAHTTOH: Jedi?

YAJUJ JUKASSA: They humiliated me in dishonourable combat. They have earned my wrath above all others.

LLOMON: Jedi will cost you extra.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: All that I still have will be yours if need be. Honour is of greater worth to me than coin.

MAHTTOH: Info on the pair?

YAJUJ JUKASSA: What I have compiled I have saved to datacard for your perusal.

Reaching back into his tunic, Jukassa pulls out a datacard.

YAJUJ JUKASSA: The basics, though, are these: Kenobi shares a home with his wife on Coruscant. Skywalker, meanwhile, calls the Corporate Sector home. He lives on one of the planets in the Orron system.

EXT. ORRON III — ZORQO'S ZOO OF ZANINESS/ENTRANCE — DAY

The DuQuesnes, Kenobis, and the Skywalker kid enter Zorqo's Zoo of Zaniness with thousands of other visitors. A medium-sized amusement park, a fair amount of different attractions and rides can be seen over the throngs of people.

CORIN: We could visit the Wormhole of Love.

NEMEC: Wormhole of Love?

CORIN: Like we did when we were teenagers. (beat) Stars, how long ago was that? Seventy years?

NEMEC: Seventy-three.

CORIN: Remember our first ride through the Wormhole —

NEMEC: Fifth.

CORIN: (cont'd) It was the most romantic night of our lives. The night we realized we'd be together always.

NEMEC: (smiles) 'Til death do we part. (sighs) That was a good night, dear, but I'm too old for cliched rides like that. (claps Anakin on back) The Wormhole of Love's perfect for our girl and her snot-nosed punk boyfriend.

ANAKIN: (frowns) Who's snot-nosed?

Nemec pulls Anakin and Nashira to him then lightly pushes them out, away from the group.

NEMEC: Go on, Nik. Take Nashira and go ride the Wormhole. There's a good chance you'll never get the opportunity again.

Deciding to do as the man asks, Anakin and Nashira join hands and head off in search of the Wormhole of Love. In short order, they're both lost from sight.

NEMEC: (places hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder) I'm hungry. Are you?

OBI-WAN: I suppose —

NEMEC: (interrupts) I'll treat you to a sausage or burger — whatever levitates your skiff. We'll leave the girls to their own entertainment.

OBI-WAN: I wouldn't want to ditch Siri and Corin like that….

SIRI: (wry) I wouldn't mind.

CORIN: You boys run off, enjoy yourselves. That's what we're all here for, after all, isn't it?

NEMEC: (grins) See? They can't wait to be rid of our ugly mugs. Let's be off!

At that the two men depart, Nemec's hand placed firmly on Obi-Wan's back to lead him along. Obi-Wan turns to look back at Siri, staring daggers her way. She merely gives him a parting wave and smile in response.

EXT. ZORQO'S ZOO OF ZANINESS/PLAZA — DAY

Some minutes have passed and Anakin and Nashira are utterly lost in the park.

ANAKIN: Where're we going?

NASHIRA: Haven't a clue.

ANAKIN: Where ever this Wormhole is, we'll never find it.

NASHIRA: (frowns) Don't be a ship in the mud. We'll ask someone for directions.

The two spend the next few minutes asking others for directions to the Wormhole of Love. No one seems to know where it is. Nashira then notices a CROLUTE CLOWN standing propped up against a sign post with a DIMINUTIVE NEAR-HUMAN NELWYN sitting on the ground beside him. Both are currently smoking cigarettes. Anakin behind her, Nashira approaches the odd pair.

NASHIRA: (smiles) Hello.

The Crolute clown — RUSTYK — takes a drag on his cigarette, takes one glance at Nashira, then takes his gaze back off her, exhaling a big cloud of purple smoke without the slightest change coming to his apathetic face.

NASHIRA: We're looking for the Wormhole of Love, but we're kinda lost.

RUSTYK: Lost, eh? (takes puff on cigarette) Shoulda bought a map at the front entrance, kid.

Flicking his cigarette butt away, Rustyk looks down at his companion.

RUSTYK: You know where the Wormhole of Love's at, Mr. Eenyt?

MR. EENYT points up. Following his finger, Nashira finds a sign with "WORMHOLE OF LOVE" stencilled in big white letters on the signpost pointing the way to the ride.

RUSTYK: Have the time of your life, kid.

EXT. ZORQO'S ZOO OF ZANINESS/ROUTE 999 — DAY

Having followed the sign, Nashira and Anakin come to their destination. Instead of finding the Wormhole of Love, they find instead a ride labelled "HYPERROUTE 999", the ride entrance a large, monstrous head with an open mouth leading deep into a dark abyss. The ride's barker — a TALL, GAUNT PAU'AN dressed in a black top hat and tailcoat — directs visitors over to the ride with dramatic flourish.

BARKER: Do you pitiful, vulnerable, ephemeral creatures have the heart, the spirit, the gumption, the cajones to brave the sorrows and torments of the Nine Corellian Hells and emerge unscathed? If so, take your chances on Hyperroute 999!

Nashira and Anakin approach the barker.

BARKER: (removes hat; bows) Greetings, my fine young kidbits. My name is Karyon Adder and I'll be your usher into the harrows of hells! Do you wish to endanger, to offer up, your immortal souls travelling down Hyperroute 999?

NASHIRA: Isn't this supposed to be the Wormhole of Love?

KARYON ADDER (BARKER): (deadpan) It was — forty-five years ago. (resumes shtick) Kids today don't want rides into dimensions of mushy gushy romance, though — they want descents into chaos universes of desecration and evisceration — so it was deconverted into the cannon into carnality which now towers before you!

ANAKIN: (points behind him with thumb) The sign there pointed to the Wormhole.

KARYON ADDER: (annoyed) The sign was meant to be replaced before reopening, but someone obviously forgot to get to it. (smiles) A temporary oversight, I'm sure. (beat) Now, again, must I reinquire? Do you wish to ride Hyperroute 999?

Nashira and Anakin exchange glances.

NASHIRA: Since we're here….

They take a collective step forward. As they pass by Karyon, though, the Pau'an takes the diamond head of his black cane in-hand and unsheathes a thin sword. Striking the ground before the pair, he blocks their advance.

KARYON ADDER: (frowns) Tickets please.

Dumbstruck, Nashira and Anakin give the Pau'an a pair of tickets. Exchanging his frown with a grin, he accepts the tickets.

KARYON ADDER: (resheathes sword) Carry on, kidbits! Carry on!

Karyon Adder LAUGHS MANIACALLY as the two lovers disappear inside the open maw of Hyperroute 999.

INT. HYPERROUTE 999 — DAY

Sitting within a repulsorcart, Anakin and Nashira travel along Hyperroute 999. Surrounding them is a holographic panorama of the nine hells from Corellian myth. All about the young couple can be seen a plethora of unholy images. In one corner, a squat imp smacks down a floating torso with no legs or head; in another, a young man with an old man's voice plummets into a bottomless pit; in still another, a man with a flailing, broken neck dodges a flurry of flaming arrows launched from the bow of a reptilian/insectoid demon. Unfortunately for the lovers, the ride's a complete bust; the holograms, already poorly rendered, constantly go staticky and often wink out. As a result, the expressions on the young man and girl's faces are far from ones of terror.

NASHIRA: (deadpan) The banality of evil.

EXT. ZORQO'S ZOO OF ZANINESS/PROMENADE — DAY

The VERPINE VENDOR at a sausage stand takes out a fresh packet of sausages, tears it open, and lays the lengths of pale green pseudo-meat on his grill as Obi-Wan and Nemec approach.

NEMEC: Hey, there.

VERPINE VENDOR: (speaking through translator) Well, howdy! What can I do ya for?

NEMEC: (scrutinizes sausages) What kind of sausages are those?

VERPINE VENDOR: Why, those are _bona fide_ processed magenge weiners, hoss. The finest this side of the Roche system!

NEMEC: Magenge? Never heard of it before. What kind of animal is that?

VERPINE VENDOR: Not a creature, hoss. No, not a creature. It's a fungus.

NEMEC: (cocks eyebrow) A fungus?

VERPINE: Indeed, hoss. A sweet fungus. My peoples' main consumable, to tell ya the gods' honest truth. Its taste is like the seventh heaven, I can tell ya.

Nemec and Obi-Wan exchange glances.

OBI-WAN: (shrugs) I'm game if you are.

NEMEC: (to vendor) Alright, I'll take a pair.

VERPINE VENDOR: Either of ya like ketchsup on yours?

NEMEC: None for me.

OBI-WAN: I'll take some.

The vendor quickly assembles the sausages. Obi-Wan cringes when he sees the ketchsup — a dark plum-coloured condiment totally unlike the ketchup/catsup he's familiar with — squeezed onto his sausage.

VERPINE VENDOR: That'll be 6 ingots, if ya please.

Nemec promptly reaches into his right pocket for his wallet. When he doesn't find it there, he goes for his left. Not finding it there, he begins patting his shirt down in search of it. He doesn't have the wallet on him.

NEMEC: I forgot; I left the wallet with Corin.

OBI-WAN: I'll pay.

Pushing aside the fold of his coat, he goes for his utility belt and, reaching into a pouch, pulls out six Corporate Sector ingots.

OBI-WAN: (to Verpine) Here you are.

Obi-Wan hands the ingots to the Verpine, who promptly hands him the two sausages.

VERPINE VENDOR: And here ya are.

OBI-WAN: (takes sausages) Thanks.

Leaving the stand, Obi-Wan and Nemec head off down the promenade. The Jedi hands the farmer his green sausage.

NEMEC: (turns sausage over in hands) A sausage made of fungus. What the hell was I thinking paying for this?

OBI-WAN: It may not be bad.

NEMEC: Only one way to tell.

In synchronous tandem, the two men take bites out of their magenge sausages.

OBI-WAN: (disgusted) UGH! Revolting!

NEMEC: (shrugs) It's that purple crud. You shouldn't have gone for any.

Spewing the unpalatable mash from his mouth, Obi-Wan is quick to toss the rest of the sausage in the nearest trash bin. Nemec hangs onto his, quickly finishing it.

NEMEC: Not bad. They don't hold a candle to real sausages, but they're decent for all that. (beat) We should have a barbecue next Benduday. Corin makes the best sausages, and I mean makes them; she grinds the meat, mixes in the starch, the whole works.

OBI-WAN: I didn't know Corin was such the gourmet.

NEMEC: She took a course off-world fifty years ago. She hasn't set the spatula down since. (beat) Does Siri cook at all, Obi-Wan?

OBI-WAN: (smiles) Afraid not. I'm the breadmaker in the family.

NEMEC: When you have fifteen children to take care of, it helps to have two parents who can cook.

OBI-WAN: (nonchalant) Fifteen children? Is that all?

NEMEC: (laughs) I'm ninety years old, Obi-Wan. I married Corin in my twenties. When you've been in a prosperous marriage that long, you've plenty of time to sow, grow, and harvest your own oats.

OBI-WAN: (sighs) I suppose so.

Nemec's brow furrows as he hears the forlornness in Obi-Wan's voice.

NEMEC: I'm sorry. I forgot about the situation with Siri.

OBI-WAN: You haven't offended me. (beat) We should have waited, but we were too eagre to become parents, too damned impatient.

NEMEC: You going to try again?

A long pause.

OBI-WAN: I'm no longer sure.

EXT. ZORQO'S ZOO OF ZANINESS/SHOOTING GALLERY — DAY

With ice cream cones in-hand, Siri and Corin walk along the promenade, making idle small talk. As they pass by a shooting gallery booth, a CARNIE WITH IMPOSSIBLE HAIR lunges out the open booth window, a preternaturally wide, toothy grin plastered across his wizened face.

CARNIE: (chipper) Why, hello ladies! You wouldn't happen to be interested in a little target practice, would you?

Hearing that exuberant voice, the two women stop in their tracks. As they face him, his already unnaturally huge grin expands tenfold.

CARNIE: (cont'd) Why, of course you'd be! So step right on up, my dears! I don't bite! Scout's honour!

Finishing their cones, they approach the booth. Drawing back into the booth, the carnie leans to a gun rack housing a small number of lightweight toy rifles. Collecting two, he activates their power packs before returning to his customers.

CARNIE: (hands rifles to women) Here you are! Two laser rifles! These are true laser rifles now, mind you, not blasters! They project low-powered laser beams, not concentrated plasma bursts! Fit for family fun on all civilized worlds, but if you're looking to fight a pitched battle with enemy forces on an open battlefield, this is not the ordinance for you! (lowers voice) I have to say all that for legal reasons, you understand. The Authority would flay my hide if I did otherwise.

Accepting the toy weapons, the ladies give them a once-over, looking for all the world like they don't know how to handle the guns or to what purpose. Reaching to the wall at his right, the carnie presses a large red button. Almost instantly, thirty small holograms representing various game birds and other flying creatures familiar throughout the Known Regions flicker to life at the far back wall of the booth. Every couple seconds, the various holograms wink in and out of being along an irregular pattern.

CARNIE: Your objective is to shoot out as many of the holograms as you can within a minute! Repeat hits do not count! I repeat — do not count! (beat) Now begin, and be careful not to shoot yourselves or me in the eye!

Stepping off to the side, the carnie allows the two blondes a clear shot at the holograms. Not used to handling firearms, it takes a couple moments for Siri to get a grip on how to handle her rifle. Corin, on the other hand, wields the toy like a pro. In a microsecond, she has the rifle held at the ready, eye focused along the sight of the barrel with her finger tensed over the trigger. A minute passes. Siri hits eleven of the holograms, not counting repeats. Corin hits twenty-nine.

CARNIE: (whistles) Wow-ee! I've never seen a soul hit twenty-nine of the thirty holograms in non-repeating succession before! Not in sixty years on nineteen worlds!

CORIN: (hands rifle back to carnie) What's my prize?

CARNIE: (flabbergasted) Your prize? (beat) Ah, right — your prize! A moment, if you please!

The carnie crosses over to a shelf loaded with various prizes. Reaching for the top shelf, he takes and pulls down the top prize.

CARNIE: (hands prize to Corin) Here you are, my lovely girl! A prize worthy of a prize such as yourself!

Corin accepts the stuffed bantha with subdued joy.

EXT. ZORQO'S ZOO OF ZANINESS/PROMENADE

Corin and Siri walk along the promenade.

SIRI: You're an amazing shot, Corin. I'm serious; you handled the toy like a professional sharpshooter.

CORIN: (shrugs) I've had practice.

SIRI: Tell me — where'd you get your "practice"?

CORIN: My father was a police officer. He used to take me to the shooting range on weekends. That's where I learned to handle a blaster.

SIRI: Police officer? You mean —?

CORIN: He wasn't an Espo. (beat) He was, but before the Authority became militarized, so corrupt. He was an honest man; he hated what the Security Police became.

SIRI: Is life here so bad?

CORIN: When Nashira was young, Nemec and I could take her out into the hinterlands on hunting trips. That changed ten years ago, when the Authority declared all undeveloped regions of Orron III "ecological reserves". Anyone who goes into a hinterland without authorization is picked up by Espo scanners and "detained".

SIRI: Did you ever consider leaving? Packing up and leaving the Corporate Sector?

CORIN: That would be nice. Stars know the Authority's eagre to buy the remaining independent farms out. We could sign our land over to them, charter a flight out of the Corporate Sector, start over on a world where we could dip our feet into a running brook without receiving so much as a dirty glare. (beat) It'll never happen.

SIRI: Corin, you must know Obi-Wan and I'd be perfectly willing to help you get settled. I have connections; I could —

CORIN: (holds hand up) This isn't about money or emigration or any of that. (beat) Were it my decision, we'd have sold the farm and left the Corporate Sector decades ago. Unfortunately, the farm's Nemec's birthright; he's more married to it than he is to me. He'll part with it when he's dead.

SIRI: That's a true shame. The war aside, the Empire's a wonderful place to live. You never have to go about life under the shadow of autocracy.

CORIN: Your Empire sounds like a dream. (sighs) I've never placed much stock in dreams. (beat) To hear you speak of it so, the Empire's an egalitarian paradise. But wasn't the Wookiee homeworld placed under martial law at the end of your previous war?

SIRI: It wasn't a decision the Senate made lightly. You have to understand, Kashyyyk had become a hotbed of Separatist activity; the Separatist presence was so firmly entrenched that the standard disarmament procedures weren't working. For the sake of the Wookiees, for all concerned, we had to crack down. It was better than the alternative.

CORIN: You can tell me tensions hasn't eased after nineteen years?

SIRI: (frowns) We've been at war with the clonemasters for those nineteen years. Our resources have been stretched to near exhaustion. We haven't had the luxury of devoting attention to Kashyyyk and the Wookiees.

Corin decides to let the conversation die there.

EXT. ZORQO'S ZOO OF ZANINESS — MONTAGE

Eventually Anakin and Nashira, Siri and Corin, and Obi-Wan and Nemec regroup. From there they go to various different attractions together, enjoying the fun parts and suffering through the painful bits together as one collective family.

As the sun lowers on the horizon, the collective family leaves for home.

EXT. SPACE — TOWNOWI

Somewhere in the depths of the Arkanis sector lies the crystalline planet Townowi. In orbit above Townowi is a long metal cylinder with a clawed torus built around its diametre. This is Akkad 14, a space station built by the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Second Clone War. While it has long since been appropriated by the Empire, it still serves its purpose as a way station between the Geonosis system and greater Galaxy.

INT. AKKAD 14/CMDR. JEFFREYS' QUARTERS

Inside her quarters, buried under the covers of her bed, is COMMANDER SHERIDAN JEFFREYS. A lean, lovely blonde nearing middle age, Jeffreys is locked fast in the deepest, most peaceful sleep.

As Townowi's blue sun rises out beyond the room's large transparisteel viewport, the chronometre off to the right side of the commander's bed begins TRILLING. Groaning, she rolls over in bed, burying her head inside her pillows in a desperate attempt to block out the noise.

CMDR. JEFFREYS: Shut up….

When the chronometre refuses to comply, Jeffreys resorts to a final desperate action. Reaching under her mattress, she pulls free a small blaster. Turning over, she levels the weapon at the chrono, takes careful aim, then pulls the trigger. A blue stun bolt flares out, catching the chronometre, frying its systems, silencing it now and forever. Lowering the blaster, she gets out of bed and meanders over to her desk. Opening a drawer, she pulls out a recorder wand.

CMDR. JEFFREYS: (activates wand) Memo to self: Order a new chronometre at the next earliest convenience.

Deactivating the wand, she replaces it inside the desk.

INT. AKKAD 14/CORRIDOR OUTSIDE JEFFREYS' QUARTERS

The door to Jeffreys' quarters slides open, allowing the commander out into the corridor. Now showered and clad in her gray Imperial uniform, she is the very picture of no-nonsense efficiency. Turning on her heel to her right, she begins her stride. The large door at the end of the corridor behind her left slides open, allowing a portly Barabel, KURASIJ, inside.

KURASIJ: (grins) Cmdr. Jeffreys!

Stopping in mid-stride, Jeffreys turns to face the Barabel. Spying his unwelcome grin, she sighs deeply.

CMDR. JEFFREYS: Mr. Kurasij, without the proper clearance, Red Deck is off-limits to non-military personnel.

KURASIJ: This is known to me. What of it?

CMDR. JEFFREYS: Get off Red Deck, Mr. Kurasij.

KURASIJ: You wound me deeply, Commander. Do you regard me so poorly that you'd immediately assume I'd use improper channels to procure access to the command section?

CMDR. JEFFREYS: (sighs) I haven't time for your games, Kurasij. Get your ass off Red Deck before I have Gardo haul it off to the brig!

KURASIJ: (steps forward) Surely, Commander —

Activating her wrist comlink, Jeffreys raises it to her lips.

CMDR. JEFFREYS: Gardo?

GARDO: (O.S.) Commander?

KURASIJ: (raises hands; steps back) Nevermind, Commander. I can see you are a busy woman. Perhaps we can establish a dialogue at a later date, yes?

The Barabel briskly leaves Red Deck.

CMDR. JEFFREYS: (into comlink) Nevermind, Gardo. False alarm.

Deactivating the comlink, the Commander resumes her stride.

INT. AKKAD 14/COMMAND CENTRE

The doors to the command centre slide open and Cmdr. Jeffreys steps inside. Within the circular room, several MEN, WOMEN, AND BEINGS OF INDETERMINATE GENDER man their stations, each monitoring interstellar space for incoming vessels or communications. Installed in the wall before them is a large viewport which looks out to star-studded space.

OFFICER #1: Good morning, Commander.

Jeffreys takes her seat at her station.

CMDR. JEFFREYS: There is no morning in space, Kirova.

KIROVA (OFFICER #1): Of course not, Commander.

CMDR. JEFFREYS: Kirova?

KIROVA: Yes?

CMDR. JEFFREYS: Be a good boy and fetch me a mug of caf. I never think straight without my caffeine.

KIROVA: Right away, ma'am.

Kirova hurries off to find the commander a cup of caf.

EXT. SPACE

Out in the blackness of space, past Townowi and the space station, a massive starcraft emerges from the depths of hyperspace. Unseen, the ship moves toward Akkad 14. Coming upon the station, the craft casts a vast, overwhelming shadow over the much smaller habitat.

INT. AKKAD 14/COMMAND DECK

OFFICER #2: Commander, a craft's emerged right on top of us! It's —!

EXT. SPACE — TOWNOWI

The unseen vessel discharges a red superlaser beam. Akkad 14 is vaporized instantaneously.

INT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/ANAKIN & NASHIRA'S BED CHAMBER — NIGHT

Anakin lies on the left side of his and Nashira's bed, curled up asleep beside her under the covers. Oblivious in their slumber, they fail to notice a peculiar fog as it flows inside the room, moving like liquid over the floor. As it swells to fill the air, rolling over the bed, Anakin is roused by the sudden chill.

ANAKIN: (drowsy) Huh...?

The fog thickens to such density that the details of the room beyond the bed vanish in its opaqueness, leaving the two lovers situated in the midst of what appears to be a cloudy void.

ANAKIN: 'Shira?

As Anakin rests his hand on Nashira's shoulder, she disappears into the mattress, the covers collapsing. A cloaked figure then rises from where she had lain. Shrouded in mist, the figure doesn't speak. It only reaches out, dirty, bloody hands ready to seize the Jedi.

CUT TO

Anakin bolting upright in bed with a GASP.

Breath heavy, body slick with cold sweat, he turns to his left. Beside him, right where she should be, lies Nashira. Judging by the frown creasing her lovely brow, her dreams are no sweeter than Anakin's.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/DINING AREA — DAY

It is another new day on this side of Orron III. Corin is busy brewing a fresh batch of caf when Siri staggers in, eyes dark and hair mussed from sleep.

CORIN: (faces Siri) Can I fix you a cup?

SIRI: (combing hair with fingers) Yes — please!

Corin takes out two mugs and fills them to the brim with steaming black caf as Siri plops herself down at the table. Corin takes care not to spill any of the hot caf as she carries the mugs over to the table. Setting the mugs down as she takes her seat, she slides one over to the Jedi. Siri takes a sip.

CORIN: Good?

SIRI: (smiles) Yes, very good. Thank you.

CORIN: (takes sip) You're leaving for Coruscant today.

SIRI: Yes. The men return to active duty in four weeks; I have to report to the Jedi council for my next assignment.

CORIN: Siri, how are you?

SIRI: (sighs) I'm still grieving, but it's easier. (smiles) Being here has helped.

Returning Siri's smile, Corin reaches out and touches Siri's hand, giving it a gentle, supportive squeeze.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/ANAKIN & NASHIRA'S BED CHAMBER — DAY

Anakin is busy making the bed when Nashira appears in the doorway. Standing there, she regards him silently until he turns her way, noticing her for the first time.

ANAKIN: (grins) Hey.

NASHIRA: (smiles weakly) Hey.

ANAKIN: I won't bite.

Tentative, Nashira enters the bed chamber. Noticing her grave expression, Anakin abandons the chore and goes to her.

ANAKIN: (rests hands on her shoulders) Why the long face? Something wrong?

NASHIRA: (gazing into his eyes) Nik ...

ANAKIN: Yes?

Seizing him in a tight hold, Nashira hugs her man close.

NASHIRA: Don't go, Anakin. Don't go.

ANAKIN: I'll miss you too, 'Shira. But I'll be back — I promise.

NASHIRA: I had a dream last night — a nightmare. You were here, in this room; you were crying. You told me not to go with you, then you stepped through the door. (points at door) I ignored you; I followed, followed you through to a barren planet. There was a woman — this odd red-skinned woman — but the shadow she cast was of a man, in a great cloak.

This gets Anakin's attention.

ANAKIN: Great cloak?

NASHIRA: (cont'd) She said something about the past, the future. Then ... then ...

Anakin pulls away from her. She stares at him gravely.

NASHIRA: (cont'd) You changed. You changed into this ... this ... thing, took out your lightsaber — no, not a lightsaber, a sword. Then ... Stars, Nik! It was horrible!

ANAKIN: It was only a dream. (laughs uneasily) Only a dream.

NASHIRA: (pulls him close) It was a warning, Anakin. Something's going to happen to you out there, and it'll change you. When I see you again, you won't be you. You'll be someone else.

Kissing Nashira gently on the forehead, Anakin returns to making the bed, trying to mask his own anxiety as she just stands there silently, watching him work.

EXT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — SUNSET

Later in the day, the DuQuesne family, the Kenobis, and the Skywalker kid make their final farewells. Climbing into a taxi, the latter three take off, waving goodbye to their hosts.

As Nemec, Corin, and Nashira stand there, watching the taxi shrink into the distance, the young woman's features darken, her brow creasing with worry.

INT. TAXI — SUNSET — TRAVELLING

THE VOICE: (O.S.) Skywalker! I am here, awake! You will hear me! Skywalker!

Anakin shuts his eyes tight, futilely hoping that will be enough to shut the spectral voice out once and for all.

EXT. GEONOSIS — CONDAWN CITY — DAY

Located atop a plateau surrounded on all sides by open, barren, cold desert is Condawn City, capital of Geonosis' Condawn Province. Though there are veritable metropolises built deep underground in immense subterranean caverns, at 122.19 km2 in area, Condawn City is the largest settlement on the planet's surface.

EXT. CONDAWN CITY — STREET — DAY

SIX KIDS — the olive-skinned boy KITSTER; the fat Rodian boy WALD; the red-haired boy SEEK; the "twin" Zeltron girls AMEE and MELEE; and the ringleader, dark-haired, blue-eyed DARTH — have gathered together on the streets of Condawn City. They stand outside an abandoned duracrete building, huddled close together at a public comm station. As Darth dials a number, the others start giggling, quickly falling silent once he shushes them.

INT. KALSYZ'S CANTINA — DAY

The Gran bartender AKS MOE is working the bar when his comm rings.

AKS MOE: (answers comm) Kalsyz's Cantina.

EXT. CONDAWN CITY — STREET — DAY

DARTH: (grins) Hi. Could I speak to Blo, please? Blo Zedong?

INT. KALSYZ'S CANTINA — DAY

AKS MOE: Wait, I'll ask. (to patrons) Blo Zedong? Blo Zedong! C'mon, step forward! I wanna Blo Zedong here!

The barflies erupt into uproarious laughter.

BARFLY: Are you sure you wanna Blo Maidong?

EXT. CONDAWN CITY — STREET — DAY

The kids guffaw along with the barflies.

INT. KALSYZ'S CANTINA — DAY

As everyone continues laughing at his expense, Aks' orange face deepens to vermilion.

AKS MOE: (into comm; enraged) If I ever get my hands on you, I'll ream you out with a hydrospanner! (hangs up)

EXT. CONDAWN CITY — STREET — DAY

The kids continue chuckling.

KISTER: That was so wizard, Darth!

WALD: (claps Darth on back) Yeah!

DARTH: (checks chrono) Oh, man! We gotta zoom! C'mon!

Leaving the comm, Darth brings out his skimboard. Dropping it to the ground, he hops onto the hovering board then takes off. Following his lead, the five other children hop on their skimboards and take off after him.

EXT. CONDAWN CITY — STREET — CONTINUOUS

The kids race through the streets of Condawn City, zooming along the sidewalks, over obstacles, and between pedestrians. They are, quite frankly, making nuisances of themselves.

MELEE: Where we going, Darth?

DARTH: The Kwisatzhader Mart's having a 2-for-1 1-day-only sale on sludgies! We gotta get there before closing time; that's in thirteen minutes!

As the kids get ready to cross a street, a landspeeder comes passing through. Instead of halting to let the vehicle pass, Darth makes a jump, skimming along the roof of the speeder to the other side. Unfortunately for the ne'er-do-well, a PAIR OF POLICE 'DROIDS seated in a clear-top speeder spot his dangerous, foolhardy stunt.

KR-L: Let's roll, LO-U.

Engaging the engines, turning on the siren, the 'droids take off after Darth.

CONDAWN CITY — ALLEY — DAY

Noticing the cops on his tail, Darth makes a sharp turn to the left and ducks into an alley, counting on the narrowness of the passage to cut the 'droids off and make good his escape. LO-U simply realigns the vehicle vertically, allowing them admittance into the alleyway, continuing the pursuit.

As Darth barrels down ahead, he sights what lies at the end of the alley: a solid, stone wall. The only way out is back the way he came.

KR-L: You've reached the end of the line, son! Submit to the law!

Gritting his teeth, Darth coaxes more power from his skimboard. Reaching the end of the alley, he throws his legs up, allowing him to ride up the wall. Even the maneuverable speeder can't make that climb in the space available. Not designed for vertical ascents, the skimboard can't take Darth all the way up the wall and onto the roof. Flipping over, Darth realigns himself upright, urges more juice from the repulsors, and passes right over the speeder.

EXT. CONDAWN CITY — STREET — CONTINUOUS

Emerging from the alleyway, Darth continues down the street. The police speeder, still hot on his heels, emerges from the alley after him.

DARTH: (looks behind him) What does it take to shake these guys?

The chase continues. Darth eventually comes to a body of water: a reservoir, very spacious, with much distance between this end and the other.

DARTH: (grins) Water. They can't follow me across water.

EXT. CONDAWN CITY — RESERVOIR — DAY

Reaching the edge of the reservoir, Darth leaps over the levee. Continuing on across the liquid surface, he looks behind him. The cops have parked their speeder and climbed out of the cab; they now just stand there at the edge, watching him.

DARTH: (laughs) Eat my slacks, sucke-!

Darth falls silent as the skimboard loses velocity. He forgot that if the 'droids' speeder can't make the crossing over water, then neither can his simple skimboard.

Darth falls into the water with a large splash.

INT. WARKA HUT/KITCHEN — DAY

A slender, middle-aged woman is busy in the kitchen preparing dinner. Her pleasant face marked by laugh lines and crow's feet, her brunette hair long and braided, she is SHMI WARKA, Darth's mother.

A KNOCK at the front door rouses her attention.

INT. WARKA HUT/MAIN ROOM — DAY

Coming to the front door, Shmi opens it. Standing outside are the two police 'droids KR-L and LO-U.

SHMI WARKA: (frowns) May I help you?

KR-L: Are you Shmi Warka, Darth's mother?

SHMI WARKA: Yes.

KR-L: Madam, your son is no more ...

LO-U brings Darth out front-and-centre, strong metal hands clamped around the nine-year-old's shoulders to keep him from getting away.

KR-L: (cont'd) than an ill-bred troublemaker.

Shmi looks upon her son. Darth keeps his eyes averted to the ground.

CUT TO

Sometime later.

The police 'droids have departed. Shmi now paces about the room, rebuking her son.

SHMI WARKA: (cont'd; irate) I keep getting reports from your teachers about you skipping school, about you getting into fights with the other children! Your grades are terrible and you're this far from expulsion, so what do you do‽ You go into town with that pack of hooligans to cause more trouble, to leave more messes for me to clean up! (beat) I've tried talking with you, helping you, but nothing I do seems good enough. Nothing works. (sighs) I'm at my wit's end with you, Darth.

DARTH: (sullen) Can I go to my room now?

SHMI WARKA: (incredulous) Go to your room‽ So you can bury yourself in some stupid game to avoid everything I've been telling you‽ (angry) No! You can't go to your room! We're staying right here together until we've worked out what to do with you!

DARTH: (angry) Work it out yourself!

Turning away from his mother, Darth crosses over to the front door.

SHMI WARKA: Where do you think you're going‽

DARTH: Out!

Shmi strides up to Darth and pulls him away from the door.

DARTH: Let me go!

Darth begins wrestling with his mother, struggling to pull free. When that doesn't work, he bites her on the wrist — hard.

SHMI WARKA: OW!

Shocked and enraged, Shmi smacks Darth against the face. He goes down. Putting his hand to his red cheek, the boy looks more startled than hurt.

SHMI WARKA: (horrified) Oh, Darth!

Crouching down, Shmi sweeps Darth up in her arms.

SHMI WARKA: (crying) Darth … Darth….

There on the floor, cradling her troubled son, Shmi Warka weeps, at the end of her rope.

INT. CORUSCANT — JEDI TEMPLE/COUNCIL CHAMBERS — NIGHT

Siri, now attired in the uniform of a knight of the Coruscanti Order, stands within the chamber doorway, her gaze focused on the twelve Jedi masters seated at the centre of the room. Having assembled to discuss hot topics revolving around acolytes of their order hours before, their conference now draws to a close. Rising from their seats, the masters file out. Stepping aside, Siri allows them exit, deferentially bowing her head to them each as they pass. Only ten of the twelve leave the room; MACE WINDU and ADI GALLIA remain positioned by their seats.

MACE WINDU: Knight Tachi. Please, come forward.

Siri joins the two masters, hands clasped behind her back and her back ramrod straight.

ADI GALLIA: (smiles) At ease, Siri. Save the rigid formality for Starfleet commanders.

Siri loosens up.

MACE WINDU: How was your vacation, Siri?

SIRI: It was ... good, Master Windu. Very relaxing. Getting away from the capital was just what I needed. I'm back now, though, ready to resume my duties to the order.

MACE WINDU: Good, because we have a special assignment lined up for you.

ADI GALLIA: As of late, our duties on the council have kept us preoccupied long into the night. We haven't been able to devote as much attention to our son as we'd like. The nanny 'droid's taking excellent care of him, but he's a four-year-old child; he needs interaction with the living and breathing.

SIRI: You'd like me to be his caretaker.

MACE WINDU: Afternoons only. The 'droid can handle Uzochi the rest of the time.

The masters give Siri a moment of silence to think things over.

SIRI: Master Windu, Mistress Gallia, I'd be honoured. When shall I start?

The two Jedi spouses smile.

EXT. GEONOSIS — CONDAWN CITY — CONDAWN CAPITOL HOUSE — DAY

Located near the heart of Condawn City is the Condawn Capitol House. Once a resplendent monument at some early point, unnameable generations of wear and tear wrought by the planet's harsh elements and fierce battles have left it only a little less nondescript — a little less shabby — than the buildings neighbouring it.

INT. CONDAWN CAPITOL HOUSE/CHLORIAN VADER'S QUARTERS/BED CHAMBER — DAY

Within the spacious chamber, Shmi lies beneath the dark brown silk sheets with GOVERNOR CHLORIAN VADER. A robust man in late middle age, Vader is somewhere in the neighbourhood of 115-120 years old, at least ten years Shmi's senior.

Climaxing, the two come apart. While Chlorian is content to lie where he is for the time being, Shmi wastes no time slipping back into her clothes.

CHLORIAN VADER: You don't have to get right back to work.

SHMI WARKA: (slips on skirt) I know.

CHLORIAN VADER: Then stay, lie with me.

SHMI WARKA: Chlor, I … have a lot on my shoulders.

Sitting up, Chlorian lays his hands on her shoulders and begins kissing her back.

CHLORIAN VADER: Lot on your shoulders? I know how to fix that….

SHMI: (frustrated) Chlorian, please….

Leaving the bed, Shmi picks up her blouse and pulls it on. Walking up to the full-length mirror before the bed, she begins buttoning up, the eyes of Chlorian's reflection attent on her.

CHLORIAN VADER: What's the problem, Shmi?

SHMI WARKA: (faces him) Darth.

CHLORIAN VADER: What about Darth?

SHMI WARKA: The police brought him in last night. After jumping a speeder, he led the 'droids on a chase through the city on that damned skimboard of his.

CHLORIAN VADER: (upset) Was he hurt‽

SHMI: No! Thank the Force for that! But he could've been — or he could've gotten others hurt. (beat) Someone is going to get hurt. The more trouble he gets into, the more chances he takes — the worse he becomes.

The two stare at one another silently for a moment.

SHMI WARKA: Darth needs a father.

CHLORIAN VADER: (sighs) We've discussed this….

SHMI WARKA: (irate) Yes! Your precious wife on Jatir! (beat) Do you honestly believe there's any chance — any real chance — she could find out about us‽ Who would tell her‽ Who would have reason to tell her‽

An ugly expression comes upon Shmi's face.

SHMI WARKA: (cont'd) I have reason to tell her.

Slipping on her shoes, Shmi turns to leave. Leaping out of bed, Chlorian stops her.

CHLORIAN VADER: Shmi, stop for a moment. Stop for a moment and think!

SHMI WARKA: I have, Chlor! I have! I've thought about what's going to happen to our son at the rate he's travelling! Chances are if he doesn't get kicked out of school, he'll drop out. Then he'll move on from jumping speeders with his punk friends to jacking them. Then he'll start using drugs, deathsticks or spice; he might even start dealing them. The downward spiral only continues from there. (beat) I've tried raising Darth right, tried being the best mother I can be for him; I've failed. He needs a father now, and you're the best candidate for the job on this planet. (sneers) By God, you will do the job or I will make the journey to Jatir and tell the lovely Mrs. Chlorian Vader to her face how often and in how many different ways you've had me in your bed.

EXT. SPACE — GEONOSIS

The Sojourner, a YU-410 light freighter, makes its departure from Geonosis, sublight engines burning at maximum.

INT. SOJOURNER/COCKPIT

Within the cockpit sit ONGOONGO and KRELMAN. Ongoongo, the pilot, is an insectoid Geonosian while Krelman, the copilot, is a humanoid with a secondary mouth located atop his head.

ONGOONGO: (clicks in Geonosian)

KRELMAN: Coordinates for C-Foroon laid in. You can make the jump anytime.

ONGOONGO: (clicks in Geonosian)

EXT. SPACE

The Sojourner leaps to hyperspace.

INT. SOJOURNER/COCKPIT

Nine hours later.

The hatch into the cockpit slides open and RACHNE NOSTRO walks in. A handsome Vultan woman clad in gray-and-red coveralls and a matching cap, she is the Sojourner's captain. Krelman, more than half-asleep at his station, barely registers her arrival.

RACHNE NOSTRO: (claps Krelman on shoulder) Krelman.

KRELMAN: (drowsy) Wha-huh? (shakes himself awake) Cap'n.

RACHNE NOSTRO: (smiles) Shift's over.

KRELMAN: (yawns) Alright, Cap'n. (rises) The station's yours.

Nostro reaches into a front pocket and pulls out a red metal flask. Unscrewing the cap, she offers it to Krelman.

RACHNE NOSTRO: Help you sleep.

Accepting the flask, the humanoid raises it to his secondary mouth and takes a swig of the golden yellow liquor. Wiping his cranial orifice, he hands the flask back to the captain, then steps aside to allow her access to the copilot's chair.

KRELMAN: G'night, Cap'n.

ONGOONGO: (clicks in Geonosian)

KRELMAN: Same to you, Ongoongo.

RACHNE NOSTRO: Goodnight, Krelman.

Krelman departs.

Settling into the copilot's seat, Nostro sips from her flask.

RACHNE NOSTRO: (offers flask to Ongoongo) Swig?

The Geonosian accepts the flask and downs some of the liquor.

ONGOONGO: (clicks in Geonosian)

RACHNE NOSTRO: Precisely my thoughts.

As Ongoongo goes to hand the flask back to Nostro, the Sojourner begins rattling with violent turbulence. The flask is jolted out of the Geonosian's hand, sending its contents spraying about the cockpit as the Sojourner is wrenched out of hyperspace.

EXT. SPACE — TOWNOWI

The Sojourner has been forced to stop in the Townowi system, several light-years short of their intended destination. Before them looms a Cartan battlemoon. A perfect sphere 36 km in diametre, the battlemoon's gunmetal gray surface is almost featureless save for a single superlaser protruding from its northern pole. The battlemoon is not alone with the small freighter; surrounding them from every direction are hundreds of white Annihilator-class Star Destroyers, Victor-class Star Destroyers, Nebulon-B escort frigates, and an assortment of cruisers.

Detecting the Sojourner, the battlemoon intercepts the freighter, engaging and training a tractor beam upon the ship. Caught by the invisible gravity beam, the freighter is drawn towards the spherical station.

INT. BATTLEMOON/OBSERVATION DECK

Aboard the battlemoon, a solitary figure stands on the observation deck, staring out the wall-length viewport at magnificent Townowi beyond. This is LUH-3417, an ATJA-type clone, admiral in the Cartan Warfleet, and commander of the battlemoon. Though clad in a full-body uniform consisting of white plasteel body armour, tabard, cloak, and face-concealing helmet, we can still tell from body language alone Lu is a woman.

At that moment, the comlink attached to her left gauntlet CHIRPS. Raising comlink to helmet, she opens a channel.

SN-5241: (O.S.) Admiral.

LUH-3417: Commander.

SN-5241: Another trader ship has been brought aboard. How shall we proceed with the crew?

LUH-3417: Detain them for questioning.

SN-5241: (O.S.) The usual it is, then. (beat) When would you like to begin the interrogation?

LUH-3417: When I'm in the mood, I'll contact you, Commander.

SN-5241: (O.S.) Quite right.

Lu severs the connection, returning her attention to Townowi.

INT. IMPERIAL BARRACKS/BUILDING E7 — NIGHT

In this well-lit barracks building, several enlisted personnel are getting ready for lights out. On the surface, they appear no different from other enlisted men. Looking closer, however, we glean what sets them apart; all of them, regardless of gender or species, are Jedi.

At their bunk bed, Obi-Wan and Anakin finish up what small chores they have before lights out. Obi-Wan, on the bottom bunk, clears lodged pebbles out from the grooves of his left boot while Anakin, on the top bunk, makes calibrations to his lightsaber. Finishing his adjustments, Anakin triggers the activation stud, engaging the vibrant blade. Rotating the hilt to get a feel for the blade, he listens to its thrum as it moves through the air. Cyan light playing over Anakin, it accentuates the wanness of his face; the Jedi apprentice appears to be in need of sleep.

TEYF BERAL: (O.C.) That's a mighty fine blade you've got there, Jedi.

Turning in that voice's direction, Anakin spies TEYF BERAL seated on the bunk directly across from his. A lean Duros male with viridian skin and scarlet eyes, he's not much younger than Anakin himself.

TEYF BERAL: You wouldn't mind lending it to me a second?

ANAKIN: (deactivates lightsaber) Here.

Anakin tosses the hilt to the Duros, who, snatching it, activates it in one graceful movement.

TEYF BERAL: (testing feel of blade) Nice. Not as finely tuned as mine.

ANAKIN: (cocks eyebrow) Show me this "finely tuned" saber of yours, Jedi, and let me be the judge.

TEYF BERAL: (deactivates lightsaber) Sure thing.

Returning Anakin's lightsaber to him, the Duros Jedi goes to his footlocker and opens it. Reaching inside, he pulls out a bronze lightsaber hilt.

TEYF BERAL: Here you are. (hands hilt to Anakin)

Taking the bronze hilt, Anakin shifts it around until it sits comfortably in the palm of his left hand.

ANAKIN: Balance is good. (activates lightsaber; passes blade through air) Solid blade cohesion. (smirks) Better than mine?

Extinguishing the deep cerulean blade, Anakin tosses the weapon back to its owner.

TEYF BERAL: Seems we've got ourselves a dispute.

ANAKIN: (yawns) That it seems.

TEYF BERAL: (points at Anakin) You, (points at himself) I, one-on-one. How 'bout it?

ANAKIN: Name time and place.

TEYF BERAL: Gymnasium at 2250 tomorrow.

ANAKIN: (nods) May the Force be with you.

OBI-WAN: (sighs) Boys, boys, boys. Bickering over blades is unbecoming of apprentices. You should be ashamed.

TEYF BERAL: (cocks brow) An apprentice? Perhaps I'm a knight, with all the esteem and privilege that rank entails.

SEV BERAL: (O.C.) He isn't, of course.

SEV BERAL makes his appearance. Like Teyf, he, too, is a Duros. Unlike Teyf, he is older, with dark teal skin and deep crimson eyes; a seasoned Jedi Knight.

SEV BERAL: (to Teyf) You were getting ready for bed, weren't you, apprentice?

TEYF BERAL: (humbled) Yes, Uncle. As soon as the lights are out, so am I.

OBI-WAN: (to Anakin) The same is true for yourself?

ANAKIN: (lies down on bunk; places hands behind head) Consider me on Dream World.

SEV BERAL: (offers hand to Obi-Wan) I'm Sev Beral, Jedi Knight of the Durosian Order.

OBI-WAN: (shakes Sev's hand) Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight-errant. (beat) I haven't meet you before. You stationed here fairly recently?

SEV BERAL: (nods) I spent the last eleven years out of the war, training Teyf and my son Jano on Duro. Now that they've passed their first trial and built their first lightsabers together, we have left sanctuary and joined our brethren in the fight against the clonemasters.

OBI-WAN: Perhaps you should have stayed on Duro. The last of the Tripartite puppet states have been liberated; Cartan territory no longer extends beyond the Prackla sector. Once we've broken their lines there, Cartao will have no course of action but to surrender. The war'll be won within the year.

SEV BERAL: Then my boys and I will fight all the harder to see this war won sooner.

A IST LIEUTENANT OF THE IMPERIAL ARMY enters the barracks. As she strides over to Obi-Wan and Anakin's bunk, all four Jedi present snap to attention, greeting the woman in the black uniform with salutes.

OBI-WAN KENOBI: Lt. Esson.

LT. ESSON: (returns salutes) SgM. Kenobi, I'm here to see you about a reassignment.

OBI-WAN: (puzzled) Anakin and I were to be stationed on the Resolute under Capt. Wullf Yularen.

LT. ESSON: If you'd follow me, Sergeant….

OBI-WAN: (nods to Anakin) My apprentice?

LT. ESSON: This is for his eyes as well.

Turning on her heels, the blonde lieutenant departs. Obi-Wan and Sev exchange glances.

OBI-WAN: We'll continue our palaver another night, Knight Beral.

INT. IMPERIAL BARRACKS/MESS HALL — NIGHT

The two Jedi and the lieutenant stand within the mess hall, which is abandoned for the night.

ANAKIN: I take it we're not here for a midnight snack.

Reaching into her tunic, Esson pulls out a hand-held holoprojector.

LT. ESSON: (hands projector to Obi-Wan) It's from Capt. Bail Organa.

Accepting the holoprojector, Obi-Wan presses a button set in the side. A clear, full-colour holographic recording of BAIL ORGANA'S head flickers into existence. Almost as if it could see Obi-Wan standing there, the disembodied head smiles.

BAIL: Hello, Obi-Wan. I wish I could be there in person to talk with you, you slick trickster, but my duties have forced me elsewhere.

OBI-WAN: (half-smiles) So what's new?

BAIL: (loses smile) Three weeks ago, we lost contact with the Townowi system. Townowi is located in the Arkanis sector and lies along the Crystal Passage, one parsec from the Geonosis system. It serves as a junction between Geonosis and the rest of the Empire. (beat) Here's the kicker: We haven't simply lost contact with Townowi — we've been cut off from it.

Anakin frowns.

BAIL: (cont'd) Cut off. All primary, secondary, and tertiary routes into the system have been rendered impassable. We suspect the Autonomy's established a vast interdiction zone, covering key entry points along the hyperlanes to effectively sever Townowi from hyperspace, isolating them and neighbouring systems from the rest of known space.

ANAKIN: That's impossible; there's too much area to cover. The number of gravity generators needed alone —

BAIL: (cont'd) It's infeasible, yet it's been done. (beat) Top brass has sanctioned a recon mission into the Townowi system; one ship, one team. By charting a roundabout course along the bottom edge of Wild Space, we believe we can find a back door the Autonomy failed to cover. Our team will slip in, find out what we can of the Cartans' dealings, then high-tail it back to Imperial Space. (beat) Kenobi, I want you for our team. I won't lie; this'll be a perilous mission. We'll be travelling through a region of space we know very little about, along routes never travelled before. But you know how to strive under pressure; you proved that a thousand times over on Alderaan, Nabu, and Dania VII. (beat) This isn't an order — accept it or decline, as you wish — but I'd appreciate your help. The vatheads are planning something, Obi-Wan, and whatever it is, it's insidious.

With that final word, the recording ends. Obi-Wan hands the holoprojector back to Esson.

OBI-WAN: When do we leave?

EXT. SPACE — NAL HUTTA

The Scorekeeper's Ryyk — a heavily modified J-type 327 Nubian starship — leaves the gravity well of Nar Shaddaa and it's parent Nal Hutta.

INT. SCOREKEEPER'S RYYK/COCKPIT

Inside the Scorekeeper's cockpit sit Llomon and Mahttoh. As can be expected, the Trandoshan sits in the pilot's seat while the Wookiee sits in the copilot's.

MAHTTOH: (in Shyriiwook, subtitled) Which of the cretin Jedi do we disintegrate first? The blonde or that Bladerunner twerp?

LLOMON: (in Dosh, subtitled) That name's Skywalker. (beat) Kriffed if I can decide.

MAHTTOH: (sighs; subtitled) We'll flip for it. Have a coin?

LLOMON: (subtitled) Yeah, I'm sure I do….

Reaching into a pocket on his flight suit, the Trandoshan fishes around for a loose coin. Finding one, he hands it to Mahttoh.

MAHTTOH: (subtitled) Heads Toblerone IV, tails Coruscant.

LLOMON: (subtitled) Orron III, you matted hairball.

The Wookiee flips the coin.

EXT. SPACE

The Scorekeeper leaps to hyperspace.

INT. GEONOSIS — GENERIC FAMILY HUT/LIVING AREA — DAY

The members of a typical Condawni family sit on their living area sofa, watching a news telecast on the holovid display.

The newscaster reveals that all contact and communication with the larger galactic community has been lost; ships from off-world haven't been coming in; access to the HoloNet and other interstellar communication systems has been cut off; and all outgoing hyperwave transmissions have gone unanswered. All evidence indicates that, for reasons unknown, a hostile force has established an impenetrable blockade around the Geonosis system.

EXT. CONDAWN CITY — STREET — CONTINUOUS

Few people walk the streets and even fewer vehicles pass along the roads. Before the blockade, there would've been more activity going on in a city this size at this time of day, but with all valuable resources now finite, everyone strives to conserve what they have for as long as they can.

One landspeeder — an old, green, closed-canopy speeder — is _en-route_ to the Capitol House.

INT. LANDSPEEDER — DAY — TRAVELLING

At the speeder controls is Shmi Warka. She looks to Darth, who sits in the seat beside her. The boy, sulky and silent, refuses to reciprocate.

EXT. CONDAWN CITY — CONDAWN CAPITOL CENTRE — FRONT GATE — DAY

The green speeder arrives at the front gate to the Capitol Centre grounds. Already gathered there are HUNDREDS OF PROTESTERS. As Shmi rolls down her window and leans out to enter her passcode into the access terminal, they begin shouting at her, demanding to know who is behind the blockade and what her bosses are doing to lift it.

Once the terminal accepts the code, the gate slides open. Rolling the window up to dampen the onslaught of curses and threats, she pulls on through.

INT. CONDAWN CAPITOL HOUSE/ENTRANCE HALL — DAY

Entering the building, Shmi and Darth make their way to the end of the hall. Chlorian is already there waiting for them. Clad in a simple brown Imperial uniform stripped of any and all rank insignia, he keeps his hands held behind him, a none-too-genuine half-smile worn upon his face.

SHMI WARKA: Darth, this is Governor Vader.

CHLORIAN VADER: (offers hand) Darth, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Your mother talks the world of you.

DARTH: (ignores hand) Yeah, I'm sure.

SHMI WARKA: (sighs) Please, Darth, be polite.

DARTH: (smirks) Okay.

Spitting into his hand, he clasps Chlorian's.

DARTH: (grins broadly) Pleased to meet ya!

SHMI WARKA: (facepalms) Don't do this. Not now.

DARTH: (angry) What's it matter to you? You finally got me out of your hair.

Getting down on one knee, Shmi puts her hands on the boy's shoulders. She is emotional, on the verge of tears, but she keeps her composure — barely.

SHMI WARKA: I don't want to do this. I don't want to hand you off to someone else. But Governor Vader can give you the care and attention you need — all the care and attention I can't give you. Can't you understand?

Darth's mood remains as dark as ever.

SHMI WARKA: (voice breaking) Darth, I love you.

DARTH: Frak you and your love.

Rising to her full height, Shmi steps back.

SHMI WARKA: (wipes tears from eyes; to Chlorian) Do what you have to.

Shmi turns on her heel and leaves for the door as quickly as her feet can carry her there.

INT. CORUSCANT — JEDI TEMPLE/WINDU FLAT/LIVING AREA — DAY

Mistress Gallia stands with her son Uzochi, hand over the hilt of her lightsaber to prevent the child from plucking it from her belt, when a KNOCK is heard at the door.

ADI GALLIA: It's open.

Opening the door, Siri enters the flat of the Windu family. Approaching her teacher, Siri bows in greeting. Mistress Gallia responds in kind.

ADI GALLIA: You didn't get stuck in traffic, I hope.

SIRI: I cut it close, but I managed to avoid the rush. (beat) Where's Master Windu?

ADI GALLIA: Mace couldn't be here. He's been in conference with the emperor and chancellor since 0800. (to Uzochi) 'Chi, darling, this is Siri. She's a good friend of mine. You remember her, don't you?

Siri looks upon the child and smiles. Uzochi, a small child in spite of his age, looks almost cherub-like in the simple white tunic and pants he wears.

SIRI: (crouches down) Hi there, 'Chi. I'm gonna be your new caretaker from now on. You know what that means, don't you? It means I'll be spending a couple hours with you everyday for awhile. We'll play games, go out for treats, stuff like that. That sound good to you?

A shy child, Uzochi grabs his mother's leg and clings close, wary brown-and-indigo eyes on Siri.

ADI GALLIA: (places hand on Uzochi's head) It's alright, 'Chi. Siri's my friend, remember? She'll take good care of you while Mommy and Daddy are at work.

UZOCHI: Nan takes care of me.

ADI GALLIA: Nan's a machine, 'Chi. You need to be with people once in awhile.

Pulling her boy off her, Gallia steps to the front door.

ADI GALLIA: (faces Siri) I don't know when Mace will be back, but I should be here around 1915. (waves to Uzochi) See you tonight, honey. Have a good time with Siri, okay? Love you.

UZOCHI: Bye, Mommy.

At that, the Jedi mistress leaves the flat. Once she has left, Siri turns to Uzochi.

SIRI: So, 'Chi, what do you want to do? What do you and Nan usually do this time of day?

Uzochi turns his back on the knight and runs off for a place to hide. Sighing, Siri sets off after him.

INT. CONDAWN CAPITOL HOUSE/DARTH'S QUARTERS/MAIN ROOM — DAY

Opening the door, Chlorian lets Darth inside. Darth takes a gander at his new dwellings.

DARTH: (nods with approval) Swell digs.

Crossing over to a plush armchair, Darth throws himself onto it.

DARTH: When do I get my stuff?

Closing the door, Chlorian strides up to Darth. His face is as harsh and cold as rough-hewn stone.

CHLORIAN VADER: Listen to me. That sithspit you pulled in the hall? Your mother may cave to it, but I won't. I am not temperamental, not emotional. Cross me, and I won't break down and cry; I will break you down. I am quite the uncompromising, unforgiving bastard, as each of my eight children can attest to. We clear on this?

If Darth could disappear into the folds of the chair he is sitting in, he would.

DARTH: Crystal.

Satisfied with Darth's response, Chlorian turns to leave.

CHLORIAN VADER: (opens door) A servant will bring your belongings around shortly.

Stepping out, the governor closes the door behind him.

INT. CORUSCANT — JEDI TEMPLE/WINDU FLAT/UZOCHI'S BED CHAMBER — DAY

Cautiously, Siri enters Uzochi's bed chamber. A small room, it doesn't contain much; a bed, a closet, a dresser, two small chairs, and a couple toys are all that take up space within. Uzochi has hidden himself somewhere here, but it's only a matter of time before Siri finds him.

SIRI: 'Chi, I know you're in here. There's no point hiding — I know where you are.

Treading softly, the Jedi Knight makes her way to the closet door. Pulling it open, she finds it stuffed bottom-to-top with various stuffed toys. There, wedged between a plush Krevaaki and Asogian, is Uzochi's young head.

SIRI: (grins) Gotcha!

Unfortunately for Siri, Uzochi doesn't share her good humour. Discovered, the young boy SHRIEKS in terror and bursts through the pile, dashing past Siri and out the open door as stuffed creatures bombard the poor woman like soft meteoroids.

SIRI: (sighs) Ancients preserve me….

EXT. WESTPORT — DOCKING BAY 77 — DAY

At the Westport spaceport, right outside the entrance into Docking Bay 77, Capt. Bail Organa waits. Leaning against the wall, he checks his wrist chronometre for what must be the fiftieth time that afternoon.

As if materializing from the shadows of Westport itself, Obi-Wan and Anakin appear.

BAIL: About time you arrived. We were about ready to take off without you.

ANAKIN: We had business to take care of.

The three men proceed to enter the docking bay.

INT. WESTPORT — DOCKING BAY 77 — DAY

Within the dim interior of the docking bay, Bail leads the two Jedi to the ship they will be making the trip to Townowi on.

BAIL: Gentlemen, I present you the Wayward Son.

Standing before them, like a great big cheeseburger with a bite taken out of it, an olive stuck in its side, is the Wayward Son. A YT-1300 light freighter which rolled off the assembly line twenty-five years ago, the ship's surface bears the tell-tale signs of weathering, patching, and scoring that come with almost three decades of constant action.

ANAKIN: (smirks) What a piece of junk.

BAIL: Weren't you taught to never judge a book by it's cover, son?

ANAKIN: I haven't ever seen a book to judge its cover.

BAIL: (to Obi-Wan) You've never taken him to a museum?

The Jedi Knight merely shrugs.

INT. WAYWARD SON/MAIN HOLD — DAY

Bail, Obi-Wan, and Anakin enter the main hold, where they find six individuals waiting for them: CMDR. RAIA VANESS; CMDR. JANGO CODY; MSC. KATHE NAAD; DR. ZOSIME MOULIN; SPACEMAN PETRA ANDUE; and SN. MAL'AKHI. The officers and scholars all stop whatever it is they're doing to focus on the Jedi.

BAIL: You met at the briefing; I don't believe you were formally introduced.

OBI-WAN: Other than Cmdr. Vaness, I haven't had the pleasure, no.

CMDR. VANESS: Greetings, Knight Kenobi. It's good to see you again.

OBI-WAN: (smiles) You, Commander.

CMDR. VANESS: (nods to Anakin) I don't believe I've met your handsome companion before.

ANAKIN: (bows) Anakin Tan Skywalker at your service, madame.

CMDR. VANESS: (grins) Handsome and genteel. You must do some lucky girl proud, Knight Skywalker.

ANAKIN: (smiles) You flatter me, Commander.

BAIL: As for the rest of the team…. (points at lanky Gungan female) That's Dr. Zosime Moulin, our resident astrocartographer.

ZOSIME MOULIN: (waves at Jedi) Salutations.

BAIL: (points at willowy Human woman with pale skin and long, brown hair) That's Kathe Naad.

KATHE NAAD: (smiles) Cryptographer.

BAIL: (points at Human male, muscular Falleen woman, and black-scaled Barabel) And that's Cmdr. Jango Cody and Spacemen Petra Andue and Mal'Akhi, the group's muscle.

OBI-WAN: Hello.

ANAKIN: Hey.

A stocky man of average height, Cmdr. Cody has close-cropped black hair, a swarthy complexion, and a face so stern it could have been chiselled from granite. Cocking an eyebrow, he issues one low GRUNT.

OBI-WAN: (under breath) Not the talkative type.

BAIL: Jango's a man of action, not words.

OBI-WAN: Worked with him before?

BAIL: (nods) Last year, in the Battle of Concord Dawn.

OBI-WAN: Not Imperial. Journeyman Protector?

BAIL: Yes.

OBI-WAN: Word is they're excellent warriors.

BAIL: Word is correct.

INT. JEDI TEMPLE/WINDU FLAT/MACE & ADI'S BED CHAMBER — DAY

Uzochi, having fled his bed chamber for that of his parents, is now hiding under their large bed.

Having surmised Uzochi's probable location, Siri enters the bed chamber, a food tray in her hands. Reticent to scare the child any more than she already has, she remains motionless in the doorway.

SIRI: 'Chi, is it alright if I come in? (beat) I prepared a snack for us. (beat) I'm going to come inside now, okay?

Taking small steps, Siri makes her way to the end of the bed.

SIRI: I made two sandwiches, 'Chi, one for you and one for me. I'm going to set this tray down now and have one. You don't have to join me if you don't want to, but it'd be sad if the sandwich I made for you goes to waste.

She slowly lowers the tray onto the carpeted floor, right in front of Uzochi's eyes. Just as slowly, she sits down, crossing her legs before her. Then, picking up a sandwich, she begins to eat. His hunger overpowering his fear, Uzochi crawls out from under the bed and cautiously sits across from Siri.

SIRI: (smiles) Would you like your sandwich?

UZOCHI: (reserved) Yes, please.

Her smile broadening into a grin, Siri hands the boy his sandwich.

EXT. SPACE — CORUSCANT

The Wayward Son leaves the bronze surface of Coruscant.

INT. WAYWARD SON/COCKPIT

Raia Vaness sits in the pilot's seat, hands at the controls, while Bail stands over her.

EXT. SPACE

Carried forward on pseudomotion, the Son is catapulted into hyperspace.

Moments pass, then the Scorekeeper's Ryyk is deposited into realspace.

INT. SCOREKEEPER'S RYYK/COCKPIT

Llomon and Mahttoh sit at the controls. Situated beyond the viewport, massive even from this distance, is Coruscant.

INT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/ANAKIN & NASHIRA'S BED CHAMBER — NIGHT

Nashira is seated by her bed chamber window, looking to the stars sparkling in the sky above, when her mother opens the door and peeks inside.

CORIN: Getting ready for bed?

NASHIRA: (faces Corin) Yes, Mom. (looks out window) I was just saying goodnight to Anakin.

CORIN: Alright. Plesant dreams, beautiful.

NASHIRA: (smiles) You too, Mom.

Soon after Corin leaves, Nashira leaves the window. Crossing over to her bed, she discards her nightgown, revealing the turquoise nightshirt worn underneath. Sliding beneath the sheets, she claps her hands twice, shutting off the lights. Shrouded in deep shadow, she pulls the covers to her chin.

INT. WAYWARD SON/MAIN HOLD

Decked out on a short wraparound couch in front of a derelict hologame table, Anakin looks toward the ceiling. Eyes dark and heavy with weariness, he finds himself nodding off.

EXT. SUMMERLAND — DAY (DREAM)

Leaving the conscious world, we find Anakin and Nashira sitting together in the Summerland, a dreamscape of rolling grain fields situated beside a sparkling blue ocean.

ANAKIN: (smiles) It's good being with you again, 'Shira. It gets lonely without you.

NASHIRA: (sneers) Don't give me that "I get so lonely without you" jive. I know you've a girl at every port of call. You're about as lonely as a Black Sun vigo.

ANAKIN: (frowns) 'Shira, you wound me! What need have I for port girls? (grins salaciously) I'm plenty satisfied with the ladies on-ship.

NASHIRA: (cocks eyebrow) You don't say?

ANAKIN: There are four of 'em aboard the Son with me right now. (beat) Well, three. Moulin's a Gungan and I've never been interested in Gungan women. They can do amazing things with those tongues of theirs, but they're not exactly eye candy.

NASHIRA: You don't go for Gungans, but you know all about Gungan tongues.

ANAKIN: (shrugs) I've dabbled.

NASHIRA: Degenerate.

ANAKIN: Cmdr. Vaness and Sn. Andue, on the other hand — wow. Andue doesn't have much of a chest, but she's got an amazing tush. She's Falleen, too. Can you picture it? Make a mental image of it in your mind. There they'd both be, laid out on the king-size bed — as I waltz in the bed chamber — wearing nothing but skimpy lingerie.

NASHIRA: You're a cross-dresser? Why've you never told me before? I've a scarlet kimono that'd look simply corking on you.

ANAKIN: (cont'd) Andue would start pumping out those pheromones of hers —

Nashira slips Anakin across the face. Hard.

ANAKIN: OW!

NASHIRA: I can't abide an unfaithful boyfriend.

ANAKIN: How about a feisty boyfriend?

NASHIRA: Can you abide a feisty girlfriend?

ANAKIN: I can abide.

NASHIRA: Then give me some sugar, baby.

Locking their lips in a passionate kiss, the lovers lower themselves onto the grass.

FADE TO

Anakin and Nashira sometime later, cuddled together under the bright sunlight, naked, contemplating the clear blue sky overhead.

A gentle breeze begins rustling the stalks of grain. The lovers enjoy the breeze at first, but it quickly gathers strength, beating the grain against their bodies. Rising to their feet, they see a bank of heavy, dark cloud has formed over the water, which has become a blue-black mass of roiling waves. The lovers go to retrieve their clothes, but as the clouds blot out the sun, their articles of clothing are driven from them.

Now in the midst of a gale, Anakin and Nashira huddle together against the cold, driving wind. Lightning flashes from the dark clouds overhead, followed quickly by thunder.

THE VOICE: (booming) Skywalker!

A rift opens in the clouds over the ocean. The figure which has been haunting Anakin's dreaming and waking thoughts emerges from the rift. His soiled aquamarine robes unfurling, the eyes in his otherwise dead face alive and alight with cold fire, PRE VIZSLA glides toward the pair.

ANAKIN: (enraged) You again! Always you! (yelling) What is it you want from me‽

PRE VIZSLA (THE VOICE): Release!

INT. WAYWARD SON/MAIN HOLD

The ship has dropped out of hyperspace, jolting Anakin out of his nightmare.

INT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/ANAKIN & NASHIRA'S BED CHAMBER — NIGHT

Nashira bolts upright in bed, shaken.

INT. WAYWARD SON/COCKPIT

CMDR. VANESS: Next route is three light-minutes out.

BAIL: (rests hand on her shoulder) Get some sleep. And take one of the bunks this time.

Yawning, Vaness rises from the seat and leaves the cockpit, leaving the copilot's seat open for someone else to take.

INT. WAYWARD SON/MAIN CORRIDOR

Moving out into the freighter's main corridor, Anakin finds Kathe Naad coming towards him from the right end of the corridor.

KATHE NAAD: (smiles) Hi.

ANAKIN: Hi.

KATHE NAAD: (takes in Anakin's fatigued appearance) Did you just come in from outside?

ANAKIN: I look that good?

KATHE NAAD: Y'know, with our next jump we'll be in Wild Space, the galactic frontier. (ecstatic) It'll be dangerous, but how exciting!

ANAKIN: Yeah, it's almost enough for me to bail and hitch a ride back to civilization.

KATHE NAAD: Where's your spirit of adventure?

ANAKIN: I left it behind with a good night's sleep.

PRE VIZSLA: (O.S.) Let me out!

Rubbing his temple, Anakin turns and walks off as quickly as he can without breaking into a run.

EXT. SPACE

The Wayward Son returns to hyperspace, leaving the relative safety of the Known Regions of the Galaxy for the uncertain paths of Wild Space.

INT. BATTLEMOON/INTERROGATION CENTRE

Standing at the centre of the chamber, trapped within a magnetic containment field, is IAM PUSHMAN. A lean Human male of average height, with sandy brown hair and an aquiline chin and nose, his would be described as handsome features. Judging by the gray-and-red uniform he wears, he is one of the Sojourner's crewmen.

As the doors to the room slide open, Pushman looks up to regard his visitor. It is Lu. Resolving to stand firm, Pushman makes direct eye contact with the helmeted woman in a show of defiance. Upon doing so, however, she removes her helmet. She is of Human extraction, beautiful, with full pink lips. Like all clones, she is bald, with a barcode across her forehead. Being an ATJA, she also sports burning white photoreceptors in place of organic eyes. Those photoreceptors bore into him, slicing through his confidence like a white-hot laser. Unable to withstand her gaze, he recoils, turning away.

LUH-3417: Why do you turn away?

When he refuses to respond, the clone walks up to him. Removing her right gauntlet, she gently takes his chin in her hand, turning his face to hers.

LUH-3417: Again — why do you turn away?

Squeezing his eyes firmly shut, he violently wrenches his chin from her grasp.

LUH-3417: (angry) You're not answering my question!

Throwing all gentility to the wind, Lu seizes Pushman's throat in a choke hold and squeezes, pinching his windpipe shut. She holds him there for several seconds, grasp tight, until he starts WHEEZING. As soon as he begins thrashing against his bonds, she releases him, allowing him to breathe again.

LUH-3417: Now ... are you going to give me an answer?

IAM PUSHMAN: (coughing) I-I couldn't ... couldn't look at you. Your eyes ... your eyes ... I couldn't stand them.

The clone returns her hand to his face. Afraid that he's earned her displeasure once more, he draws his head back, straining against his bonds for escape. She merely begins running her fingers through his hair, stroking it as a pet owner would the fur of a beloved animal companion.

LUH-3417: What's your name?

IAM PUSHMAN: (petrified) Iam, ma'am. Iam Pushman.

LUH-3417: Iam, you're a handsome man. A handsome man with a handsome face. You know that, don't you?

When he fails to reply, she pulls his hair, forcing a pained YELP from his lips.

LUH-3417: Don't you?

IAM PUSHMAN: (grimaces) Yes — yes!

LUH-3417: The women back home must like it, your handsome face.

IAM PUSHMAN: Yes….

Releasing his hair, she moves over to a rack. On the rack are cruel instruments of torture — each one more terrible than the last. Setting down her helmet and empty gauntlet, removing her cloak, she picks up a metal gauntlet and slips it over her naked hand. With the turn of a small dial, the filaments embedded in the palm and along the fingers crackle with angry orange energy.

LUH-3417: Do you like your face?

Moving up close to Pushman's face, she brushes a finger against his cheek. Where the filaments touch, energy is discharged, burning the flesh, drawing a wince from the poor man.

IAM PUSHMAN: (voice breaks) Yes! I like my face! I like it!

LUH-3417: (lowers hand) I like it, too.

The clone seizes Pushman's shirt with her free hand. With a strong pull, she tears it off, exposing his naked torso with its sparse hair and lean musculature.

LUH-3417: (cont'd) I'm going to leave the face….

IAM PUSHMAN: (desperate) Please! I just work the hand truck! I don't know anything! I don't have anything! What do you want‽

LUH-3417: What do I want?

Spreading her fingers, she raises the energy gauntlet.

LUH-3417: I want to hear you whimper, I want to hear you moan.

Lu presses against his chest. Pushman SCREAMS with excruciating agony.

LUH-3417: (cont'd) Most of all, I want to hear you scream.

Lu runs the gauntlet down the length of Pushman's torso. His second scream makes the first sound like a cry of ecstacy.

INT. BATTLEMOON/CORRIDOR OUTSIDE INTERROGATION CENTRE

In the corridor directly outside the interrogation centre stands SN-5241, clone commander and LUH-3417's first officer. A slender Mirialan male, he wears an expression of utmost serenity on his olive green face. Reaching for the doors' controls, he opens them and steps inside.

INT. BATTLEMOON/INTERROGATION CENTRE

As the Mirialan clone enters the room, he finds his commanding officer there in the aftermath of her session with Iam Pushman. Pushman, shrouded in shadow, is held limp within the containment field, grisly in death. Lu, turned away from Sen, stands over the corpse.

LUH-3417: I didn't call for you.

SN-5241: Shall I summon the cleaning staff to take care of your — um — latest sparring partner?

The admiral turns to face the commander. She radiates silent, lurking menace. He gives her his laid-back smile in return.

INT. GEONOSIS — GENERIC FAMILY HUT/LIVING AREA — TWILIGHT

The members of the typical Condawni family sit on their living area sofa, watching a news telecast on the holovid display.

The newscaster reveals that the situation on Geonosis has gotten worse. Resources are at an all-time low, violence at an all-time high. Mobs are looting supermarkets and homes for food. Hospitals and clinics have been unable to adequately care for many of their patients due to dwindled medical supplies. Furthermore, thousands of desperate souls — hoping to break the blockade — have been taking/stealing starships and leaving the system in droves. None have been heard from since.

INT. EQUIPMENT SHED/WORKSHOP — TWILIGHT

A workshop has been set up in the rear compartment of an equipment shed located somewhere on the Capital Centre grounds. Darth sits at the workbench, busy tinkering with a small motor, when his mother enters.

SHMI WARKA: Hi.

Darth barely turns to look at her.

DARTH: (cold) Hi.

Shmi walks up to Darth. Casually, she leans over his shoulder to see what he's working on.

SHMI WARKA: What you up to?

DARTH: (irate) I've already done my homework, alright?

SHMI WARKA: I'm just curious to know what you're working on.

DARTH: I'm just tinkering. A hobby, you know? I'm still allowed to have hobbies, right?

A moment of uneasy silence passes.

SHMI WARKA: Chlorian's told me you're doing well in school. You're not skipping classes or assignments anymore….

DARTH: Yeah. Gov'nor's a real hardass.

SHMI WARKA: (frowns) Please don't talk of him that way.

DARTH: Why? Is he my dad or something?

SHMI WARKA: (swallows) Darth, I'm not here to fight with you.

DARTH: What you here for?

SHMI WARKA: (irate) I'm your mother!

DARTH: So?

SHMI WARKA: In the Holy's name, are you going to be angry with me the rest of your life‽

DARTH: Just yours, Mommy. Just yours.

SHMI WARKA: (angry) Ungrateful shavit. How did I ever produce a child like you?

Fed up with her son's attitude, she leaves.

EXT. CAPITOL CENTRE — FRONT GATE — TWILIGHT

Her work shift over, Shmi sits behind the controls of her aging green speeder, ready to leave and return home. As the gate slides open, she finds a wall of protesters cutting her off.

SHMI WARKA: (sticks head out window) Out of the way!

Silent, eyes dark with smouldering anger, improvised weapons at hand, they approach. Shmi swiftly ducks back inside, but that proves no deterrent against the large cinder block which is violently thrown against her windscreen, denting the pane of transparisteel. The mob rushing in around the speeder, one of their number reaches in through the open window before Shmi can roll it up. She begins cursing and beating at the assailant, but neither keep him from grabbing her by the shirt and pulling her out.

As Shmi is deposited on the hard ground, they begin kicking and clubbing her, turning her angry shouts of protestation into panicked screams of terror.

EXT. CORUSCANT — GALACTIC CITY — CORUSCANT PLAZA — SUNSET

Through Coruscant Plaza — a large, wide-open plaza whereupon stand various shops and restaurants tailored to suit the various needs and wants of Coruscant's residents and visitors — walk Siri and Uzochi hand-in-hand. A sufficient amount of time has passed since we last saw them together, enough for Uzochi to have grown comfortable in Siri's presence.

As the two pass by a VERPINE ICE CREAM MAN selling cones from a small stand, Uzochi halts in his tracks, eyes fixed on the inviting insectoid.

UZOCHI: (tugs at Siri's sleeve) Siri, ice cream!

SIRI: No, 'Chi. We have to be getting home.

UZOCHI: (hopping enthusiastically) Please, Siri! Please!

Stopping a moment, the Jedi Knight ponders the situation. She sighs with frustration.

SIRI: Alright, but let's make this quick. I don't want a repeat of the other day with the toy store, okay?

Siri takes the small boy to the ice cream stand.

VERPINE ICE CREAM MAN: (speaking through translator) Hello, ma'am. What would you like today?

UZOCHI: Beebleberry-chocolate swirl!

SIRI: (to Verpine) One cone.

Scooping out a blob of beebleberry-chocolate swirl, the Verpine plops it down on a cone and hands it to the Jedi.

VERPINE ICE CREAM VENDOR: That'll be 2 credits, please.

Fishing out the credits, she hands them to the Verpine. Taking the cone, she hands it to Uzochi, who begins licking with great relish.

VERPINE ICE CREAM MAN: How about you, ma'am? Would you like anything?

SIRI: Hmm….

VERPINE ICE CREAM MAN: How about a scoop of magenge cream?

SIRI: Magenge cream?

VERPINE ICE CREAM MAN: Yes, magenge cream. It's made from magenge fungus, a favoured staple among my people.

SIRI: I knew that. I've just never had it before.

VERPINE ICE CREAM MAN: Well now, this'll be a new experience for you! Why not give it a try?

SIRI: (smiles) Oh, alright. It won't kill me, after all. (frowns) Will it?

VERPINE ICE CREAM MAN: Magenge is compatible with the Human digestive tract.

SIRI: That'll be another 2 credits?

VERPINE ICE CREAM MAN: Correct.

Siri gives the Verpine another pair of credits. Accepting them, he gives her a cone of pale green magenge cream.

VERPINE ICE CREAM MAN: Give it a lick and tell me how it tastes.

Accepting the cone, Siri looks it over a moment before giving it a taste. Her eyes bug out.

VERPINE ICE CREAM MAN: Is it to your liking?

SIRI: It's excellent!

VERPINE ICE CREAM MAN: Glad to hear it.

SIRI: Thank you!

VERPINE ICE CREAM MAN: Have yourself a pleasant evening, ma'am.

SIRI: You, too.

Taking Uzochi by his free hand, Siri leaves the ice cream stand.

EXT. GALACTIC CITY — TEMPLE DISTRICT — SUNSET

Now behind the wheel of her airspeeder, Siri flies over the city blocks of the Temple District, on-course for the Jedi Temple which rises from the cityscape like a titan in the distance.

INT. AIRSPEEDER — SUNSET

As Siri drives, Uzochi looks upon her fondly, a smile across his chocolate coloured face.

SIRI: (notices Uzochi's stare) What's up, 'Chi?

UZOCHI: Siri ...

SIRI: Yes?

UZOCHI: You're nice to me. You take me to the park every day. You buy me ice cream. I like being with you.

SIRI: (smiles) That's nice of you to say, 'Chi. I like being with you, too.

UZOCHI: I wish you were my mommy.

SIRI: (frowns) Why do you say that, 'Chi?

UZOCHI: (sullen) Mommy and Daddy are never around. They hate me.

SIRI: Oh, 'Chi, don't say that! Your mommy and daddy love you more than the worlds themselves!

UZOCHI: Then why aren't they ever home?

SIRI: The reason your mommy and daddy aren't home so much is because they're busy being Jedi. They'd like to be with you more, but they can't right now.

UZOCHI: (frowns) Then why don't they stop being Jedi?

SIRI: It's not that simple, 'Chi.

UZOCHI: Why not?

SIRI: It's hard to explain right now, but you'll understand when you're older, when it's time for you to become a Jedi.

UZOCHI: Maybe I don't want to be a Jedi.

SIRI: (sighs) Maybe you won't, but give it time before you make up your mind, okay?

UZOCHI: Okay, Siri.

Siri gives Uzochi's shoulder a rub and squeeze, a small smile coming to her lips.

EXT. GALACTIC CITY — ENTERTAINMENT STREET — XED'S CANTINA — SUNSET

Entertainment Street — with its smoggy air, run-down buildings, flickering lights, and disreputable-looking characters — lies at the heart of the world-city's seedy underbelly, far from the well-maintained, gleaming chrome centres of civilization that serve as the planet's public face to the rest of the Empire.

Arriving at the entrance to a grime-stained establishment bearing a blue neon "XED'S CANTINA" sign above its door are Llomon and Mahttoh.

INT. XED'S CANTINA — SUNSET

The bounty hunters enter the cantina. Looking about the dingy interior, they see a number of clientele — all seedy and grungy as the people outside — lounging around, nursing drinks and talking in hushed tones at the bar or in booths. Silently, they stride across the room to the bar. As they plop down on a pair of stools before the grimy bar counter, a Balosar sitting beside Mahttoh — ELAN SEL'SABAGNO — turns to them.

ELAN SEL'SABAGNO: You wanna buy some deathsticks?

LLOMON: We don't want any deathsticks.

ELAN SEL'SABAGNO: I'm selling them at prime rates. (leans forward) C'mon, you can't tell me —

Grabbing the Balosar by the back of the head, Mahttoh slams Sel'Sabagno's face down on the counter, crushing it in, then flings his body halfway across the room. Witnessing the altercation, cantina owner and bartender XED is quick to reach under his counter and pull out a blaster rifle.

XED: Alright, ya twos. Ya gonna cause trouble, ya get out o' here now!

Mahttoh lunges forward, taking the rifle by the barrel and wrenching it out of the Besalisk's hands before he can pull the trigger. Visibly frightened, the bartender takes several cautious steps back.

LLOMON: We're not looking for trouble, just information.

XED: (stammering) I-i-information?

LLOMON: Yes. You see, we're looking for a man, but we're new to the planet and don't know where he lives.

XED: T'at so?

MAHTTOH: (sneers) Yes.

LLOMON: Furthermore, he's Jedi.

XED: A Jedi.

LLOMON: We need to get in touch with someone who might have access to the information we seek. We would appreciate it if you'd give us a name and address to such an individual.

XED: No problem. (beat) What ya gonna offer me for t'is info?

LLOMON: Your existence.

To punctuate this point, Mahttoh crushes the barrel of Xed's gun with both hands, then twists it, hopelessly mangling the weapon.

XED: (swallows audibly) Point taken.

Llomon grins.

INT. WAYWARD SON/FORWARD HOLD

Sn. Mal'Akhi and Dr. Zosime Moulin currently stand together over a large crate, at work preparing supper. Opening metallic foil ration packets, the Barabel takes out the self-heating foodstuffs and arranges them on a makeshift platter, the Gungan at his side offering assistance.

SN. MAL'AKHI: (finishes arranging meat logs; sucks gravy off fingers) And there we are.

Hefting the ersatz platter up, he turns around and starts off with Moulin for the main hold.

INT. WAYWARD SON/MAIN HOLD

A hatch opens, allowing the Barabel and Gungan entry into the Wayward Son's main hold. Waiting for them — empty plates ready — is the rest of the crew.

ZOSIME MOULIN: Dinner is served.

Making his way to each of the awaiting teammates, Mal'Akhi gives each of them a serving of the items from the tray.

KATHE NAAD: (looks upon food with distaste) What is it tonight?

SN. MAL'AKHI: Processed meat logs in gravy, a slice of maize bread, and candleberry pudding for dessert.

KATHE NAAD: (takes bite of meat log and gags) When was this packaged? 8000 PE?

SN. ANDUE: (grins) There's a reason they're called MREs, little sister. Meals Regurgitated by Elom.

KATHE NAAD: Not even Elom would touch this food.

SN. MAL'AKHI: Sorry, Ms. Naad, but I'm only a gourmet chef. I can't work miracles.

KATHE NAAD: This doesn't require a miracle worker, just an undertaker. This stuff's long overdue for a proper burial.

OBI-WAN: Hold your nose, Kathe. It'll go down easier.

Heeding the knight's advice, the slender woman pinches her nose shut before taking another bite.

CMDR. CODY: We shouldn't be going through our rations like this. We should conserve them in the event we find ourselves stranded in inhospitable territory.

CMDR. VANESS: (smirks) Still quite the iron warhorse, aren't you, Cody? Have you ever considered lightening up a bit, Commander?

CMDR. CODY: "Lightening up" has never saved anyone under my charge, Commander. Keeping an eye out for the future — being prepared — has.

ZOSIME MOULIN: (takes seat) Can we not get into another one of these conversations, please? I'd much prefer to eat in peace.

CMDR. VANESS: I have no problem with that. (to Cmdr. Cody) You?

Cody merely takes a bite from his slice of bread.

KATHE NAAD: (turns to Obi-Wan) Sgt. Kenobi, I —

OBI-WAN: (holds up hand) Please, Kathe, call me Obi-Wan.

KATHE NAAD: (cont'd) Obi-Wan. (beat) I've been meaning to ask you for some time now, and — well — I guess I've been a little shy to ask before….

OBI-WAN: (smiles) Go ahead.

KATHE NAAD: How long've you been in the service?

OBI-WAN: Close to sixteen years. I enlisted shortly after I was knighted.

KATHE NAAD: What're your plans for the future, after the war's over?

OBI-WAN: (smiles) My wife believes I should return to the Academy and work towards a commission. Personally, I feel like hanging up my armour and leaving the Army behind when all's said and done. (beat) I think I'll take a course in journalism, become a reporter.

KATHE NAAD: I've never heard of Jedi reporters.

OBI-WAN: Oh, there are some.

KATHE NAAD: (to Anakin) Do you have any future plans?

Anakin stares into space, a million parsecs away.

OBI-WAN: Anakin.

ANAKIN: (turns to Obi-Wan) Hmm?

The knight nods to Kathe.

ANAKIN: (perplexed) Yes?

KATHE NAAD: What are your plans after the war?

ANAKIN: I'll be returning to Orron III to live with my girlfriend and her parents on their farm.

KATHE NAAD: (smiles) No grandiose plans to become the next galactic super-celebrity? Doesn't the prospect of owning sixteen-hundred mansions on every major world in the Inner Core with harems of beautiful women in each hold any appeal?

ANAKIN: (smiles) After five years of adventure, I think I'm ready to give the quiet family life a go.

KATHE NAAD: So you'll hang up your lightsaber? Quit being a Jedi?

ANAKIN: No. If my services as a Jedi Knight are needed, I'll be there. I'll always be a Jedi. (takes out lightsaber) My children will be Jedi. My firstborn? They'll receive my lightsaber when they're old enough.

KATHE NAAD: (smiles) Well, I think you'll make a great dad.

ANAKIN: (smiles) Thanks. I like to think so, too.

INT. WAYWARD SON/MAIN CORRIDOR

Following dinner, Anakin goes to walk off the indigestible meal. Coming up behind him, Obi-Wan puts a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

ANAKIN: (irate) What?

OBI-WAN: (eyes Anakin) Are you alright?

ANAKIN: Why wouldn't I be alright?

OBI-WAN: It's just that you look —

ANAKIN: (interrupts) Like sithspit.

OBI-WAN: (cont'd) Peaked. Though sithspit, if you like.

ANAKIN: I haven't been sleeping well.

OBI-WAN: Something on your mind?

This brings Anakin to laughter — somewhat hysterical laughter.

ANAKIN: Insomnia. Just insomnia. It's being aboard this ship. I haven't gone this long in space ever; I don't think I'm built for it.

OBI-WAN: (skeptical) If there's anything that can been done….

ANAKIN: Meditation helps some. I'm gonna do a little of that. Okay?

OBI-WAN: Okay.

EXT. CORUSCANT — GALACTIC CITY — ENTERTAINMENT STREET — ALLEY — NIGHT

Llomon and Mahttoh make their way through the dank alley, navigating piles of refuse until they come to a doorway lit by a sickly green bulb. Standing in the alcove, almost invisible within his dirty black jacket, is TAAR PFAALL, a Gran information broker. Though relatively young, his sagging skin and missing teeth make him appear far older than his years.

TAAR PFAALL: You're welcome inside. I can fix you both a mug of ardees.

LLOMON: I want out of this offal pit before its stench seeps into my skin.

TAAR PFAALL: Very well. (pulls out datacard) Here's what you wanted.

The Gran tosses the datacard to Mahttoh. The Wookiee catches it and slips it into a datapad on hand.

TAAR PFAALL: It took some digging, but I found what you're looking for. Your Obi-Wan Kenobi lives in Flat 53 of the 662 Gasgor Valley complex. Not the swankiest outfit, but still not a half-bad place to call home.

MAHTTOH: (frowns) It says here the apartment is rented by a Siri Tachi.

TAAR PFAAL: That's Kenobi's wife. The rental agreement's in her name.

MAHTTOH: (to Llomon) I thought Human women took their mate's surname in marriage.

LLOMON: (shrugs) I can't make heads nor tails of Human marriage customs.

INT. GEONOSIS — EQUIPMENT SHED/WORKSHOP — NIGHT

Darth has pushed the motor aside and is now working on what appear to be a pair of mechanical boots. He is busy inserting a microchip into the inner workings of a sole when a bronze protocol 'droid — Z-6PO — enters.

Z-6PO: Excuse me, Master Darth.

DARTH: (faces Z-6PO) Sixpio. What's happening?

Z-6PO: Master Vader has been unable to reach you on your comlink.

DARTH: I shut it off. I'm not gonna talk to him more than I need to.

Z-6PO: Sir, it's about your mother.

DARTH: I don't wanna talk to her, neither.

Z-6PO: (cont'd) Master Darth, please. It's of the utmost importance.

DARTH: (shrugs) What?

Z-6PO: Your mother has been injured grievously. She has been taken to the medcentre.

DARTH: (alarmed) What‽

Z-6PO: If you would just come with me to see Master Vader….

But Darth has already left for the medcentre.

INT. MEDCENTRE/OBSERVATION ROOM — NIGHT

Chlorian Vader stands at the observation window, staring through the one-way sheet of transparisteel into the operating room where the surgeon and medical 'droids attend to the horribly bruised and broken body of his lover. Though the governor often does a solid job keeping his emotions below the surface, this time he cannot.

Darth bursts in.

DARTH: Mom!

Worried — panicked — Darth strides right up to the observation window, pressing firmly against the transparisteel as if to pass through it.

DARTH: (voice breaking) What happened?

CHLORIAN VADER: Those damned protesters jumped her — got her as she was leaving the front gate.

Darth says nothing. He only places his face inside his arm as he begins CRYING. Having no words of comfort to offer, Chlorian can only place a reassuring hand on the young boy's shoulder.

EXT. SPACE — TOWNOWI

The view of Townowi has undergone a considerable transformation since we saw it last. There are now so many starships in orbit around the planet that they form an almost solid shell encasing it. The battlemoon stands just outside this sphere of influence, a sentinel on watch and guard.

Emerging from hyperspace, an Annihilator-class Star Destroyer enters its approach vector for the battlemoon. Halting eight kilometres from the station, the Purifier disgorges an Eta-class shuttle, the CC 161. Engines flaring bright with blue-white light, the CC 161 rockets toward the battlemoon.

INT. BATTLEMOON/DOCKING BAY

Lu is already waiting in the docking bay when the CC 161 touches down inside. The boarding ramp opening and lowering, THX-1138 emerges from the ship, clad in full ATJA armour.

LUH-3417: Welcome aboard, THX-1138.

THX-1138: I accept your welcome, LUH-3417.

INT. BATTLEMOON — OVERBRIDGE

The two ATJAs enter the Overbridge. Climbing the steps to a raised command platform, they gaze down at the lower levels beneath them. Technicians man the computers down in the crew pit; there is one face among the lot of them.

LUH-3417: This is our main command centre. From here we monitor and control the battlemoon's workstations and datafiles.

THX-1138: On a station this size? All of them?

She nods.

THX-1138: Quite the achievement. Our engineers ought to be commended.

LUH-3417: They won't be.

THX-1138: They will be. (beat) They will be.

INT. BATTLEMOON/INTERROGATION CENTRE

Lu and Thex enter the interrogation centre. As she walks over to the weapons rack, he strides up to the inactive containment field. He finds a dried blood spot on the platform.

THX-1138: Tsk.

Reaching up, he finally removes his helmet. We can now see that he is Human, rather handsome, with a strong chin and straight nose.

LUH-3417: It's a crime to hide such a face.

With lightning speed, Lu takes a metallic whip up from the rack and strikes at Thex. Just as swiftly, Thex grabs the end of the metal lash before it can connect, holding it fast. Touching the activation stud, Lu engages the whip's energy field. Glowing bright white, the lash begins burning into Thex's hand and fingers.

THX-1138: (grimaces) Ahhh….

With his other hand, he takes hold of the glowing lash and begins reeling Lu in. She resists at first, tugging back on the whip, but soon relents. As she's drawn up close to him, he wrenches the lightwhip out her hands and tosses it aside.

THX-1138: That hurt.

LUH-3417: (grins) You wouldn't have it any other way.

Grabbing her by the back of her head, Thex mashes their faces together. Lips locking, tongues are thrust into open mouths.

SABOTEUR'S P.O.V. — WAYWARD SON

Exiting the crew quarters, the saboteur makes their way along the main corridor of the Wayward Son until they reach the entrance into the engineering bay. Slipping inside, the saboteur strides over to the #3 hold. Inside, they approach a green metal crate. Bringing out their left wrist, they pull their sleeve up and, peeling off a patch of synth-skin, reveal a small wafer of super-thin electronics attached to the real skin beneath. After several touch-sensitive spots on the wafer are pressed, a hidden compartment near the base of the crate slides opens. Reaching inside, the saboteur brings out a toolkit along with a brick-sized detonator. Re-sealing the compartment, the saboteur returns to the engineering bay and crosses over to the hyperdrive access panel. Taking care to make sure no one's around, they open the panel and slip down inside the access tube. Opening the toolkit, the saboteur takes the detonator and begins connecting it to the hyperdrive motivator.

Time passes. The job of securing the detonator in place is finished. Taking their tools, the saboteur returns them to the toolkit.

SN. ANDUE: (O.C.) Hey, what's up down there?

Hearing the Falleen's voice, the saboteur quickly reaches for the blaster pistol holstered to their left thigh. Unholstering the blaster, they adjust the pistol's setting, then taking care to hide the weapon against their palm, they climb out of the access tube. Andue, unaware of the danger facing her, casually approaches the saboteur.

SN. ANDUE: (smiles) What were you doing with the hyperdrive? Is something —

The saboteur closes in on Andue. Grabbing her queue, the saboteur pulls the reptilian woman's head back, then shoves the blaster barrel up under Andue's chin and pulls the trigger. Though a stun blast, it's powerful enough to fry the Falleen's brain at this close range. Taking hold of the limp, spasming corpse, the saboteur drags it to the hyperdrive access tube. Pushing the body down the tube, the saboteur seals the access panel. That done, the saboteur departs, leaving the engineering bay as close to clean and spotless as it was before their arrival.

EXT. CORUSCANT — 663 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/LLOMON & MAHTTOH'S FLAT/BALCONY — DAY

Llomon stands on the balcony, peering out at the 662 Gasgar Valley flat complex through his macrobinoculars.

LLOMON'S P.O.V. — 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX'S ENTRANCE

The front door opens and Siri steps out, continuing down the sidewalk towards the parking garage.

INT. 663 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/LLOMON & MAHTTOH'S FLAT/LIVING AREA — DAY

Opening the balcony door, Llomon enters the living area. Mahttoh, seated on the sofa, fingers steepled across his chest and feet propped up on the caf table, turns his dark chocolate eyes away from the Wookiee opera currently playing on the holovid display to his partner.

LLOMON: (in Dosh, subtitled) She just left.

Nodding once, the Wookiee picks up a remote and turns the holovid player off at the exact moment the Wookiee opera singer reaches crescendo.

INT. 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT/ENTRANCE HALL — DAY

The door into the flat slides open and Llomon and Mahttoh, two satchels at hand, sneak inside. Sealing the door before anyone can see them, they proceed deeper into the dim flat.

INT. 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT — MONTAGE

We follow the bounty hunters as they make their way room-to-room, planting bugs and miniaturized cameras in various concealed spots.

INT. 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT/KITCHEN — DAY

In the kitchen, the bounty hunters bring out the last of their bugs and hide it behind the refrigerator.

LLOMON: (subtitled) That should do.

The bounty hunters depart, leaving no visible trace of their presence behind.

EXT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — COURTYARD — NIGHT

It is a calm, clear evening on the night side of Orron III. The DuQuesne family, currently seated on lounge chairs outside, look up to the night sky of their world. The planet's three moons have come into perfect alignment, combining their light to form a large, brilliant star in the heavens.

EXT. SPACE

With a blur of pseudomotion, the Wayward Son emerges from hyperspace. The Corellian ship finds itself floating in deep interstellar space, surrounded on all sides by billions of brilliant stars, a gorgeous violet nebula in the black firmament to their far right. No planets or nearby suns are to be seen.

INT. WAYWARD SON/COCKPIT

Taking a moment to appreciate the magnificent nebula, Cmdr. Vaness then reaches for the headset comlink secured over her left ear.

CMDR. VANESS: (activates comlink) Dr. Moulin, we have emerged from hyperspace. Could you report to the cockpit, please?

The commander receives no response.

CMDR. VANESS: (cont'd) Dr. Moulin, are you there?

INT. WAYWARD SON/CREW QUARTERS

"Morning" has come to the Wayward Son, but most everyone is still asleep. Of the three bunks in the crew quarters, one is empty; the remaining pair are occupied by Anakin and Obi-Wan, though Anakin is far from asleep. Awake, he sits up, feet on deck, bloodshot eyes fixed on nothing. Sensing something amiss, Obi-Wan wakes, finding Anakin in that position.

OBI-WAN: (sits up) Nik?

When his apprentice doesn't respond, Obi-Wan leaves his bunk and goes to Anakin.

OBI-WAN: (concerned) Anakin?

When Anakin still refuses to answer, the knight touches his arm.

ANAKIN: (stirs) Obi?

OBI-WAN: (nods) Yes.

ANAKIN: Is it morning?

OBI-WAN: We're in space.

ANAKIN: Right….

OBI-WAN: Did you sleep at all?

ANAKIN: I want to sleep….

OBI-WAN: Yes, but did you?

ANAKIN: (cont'd) But he won't let me.

OBI-WAN: Who won't let you sleep?

ANAKIN: Pre Vizsla….

OBI-WAN: (perplexed) Pre Vizsla? (beat) Pre Vizsla's dead.

ANAKIN: He's with me all the same. (taps head) Here. (beat) I want to go to sleep but he's always there, waiting for me, in my dreams. Even awake I hear his voice, shouting, always shouting. I've tried shutting him out but I can't — can't! (starts crying) He wants to take me over! He's going to, Obi-Wan! He's going to!

Obi-Wan hugs Anakin.

INT. WAYWARD SON/MAIN CORRIDOR

As Obi-Wan guides Anakin out to the main corridor, they pass by Kathe Naad on her way back to the crew quarters.

KATHE NAAD: (concerned) Something the matter with Nik?

OBI-WAN: We're not sure at the moment, Kathe.

As they continue to the cockpit, Cmdr. Cody emerges from the engineering bay. Looking ill at ease and edgy, the man from Concord Dawn hurriedly turns to his right and makes a dash down the corridor without taking notice of the Jedi. Exchanging glances, the Jedi Knights pick up their pace, following him.

INT. WAYWARD SON/COCKPIT

As Cmdr. Vaness gets ready to leave her seat, Dr. Moulin enters the cockpit and plops down in the copilot's seat.

ZOSIME MOULIN: (calls star chart up on display) Sorry for the tardiness, Commander. I had to use the facilities.

EXT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — COURTYARD — NIGHT

As the DuQuesnes watch the three aligned moons blaze, a formation of storm clouds — appearing suddenly from nowhere — coalesces in the sky above them.

INT. WAYWARD SON/MAIN CORRIDOR

Rounding a corner, Cody comes to the hatch into the cockpit access corridor. Opening the hatch, the Journeyman Protector dashes inside.

INT. WAYWARD SON/COCKPIT

ZOSIME MOULIN: (cont'd) If we head for the K-type star here (points to spot on star chart), we'll be able to avoid crossing paths with the neutron star and continue on to the C-type star here (points to another spot on chart). It's a lengthy route — it'll add another six hours to our travel time — but it's safe.

CMDR. VANESS: (sighs) Punch it in.

As the Gungan enters the coordinates into the navicomputer, Cmdr. Cody bursts into the cockpit. At a near panic, he pounces upon the two women just as the hyperdrive comes on-line.

INT. WAYWARD SON/HYPERDRIVE ACCESS TUBE

Inside the access tube, where the twisted body of Sn. Andue lies cold in unceremonious death, the detonator activates as commands to the hyperdrive motivator are filtered through it.

With a soundless flash of brilliant white light, the detonator explodes.

EXT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — COURTYARD — NIGHT

The cloud formation grows like a cancer, concealing the aligned moons and blotting out their light.

INT. WAYWARD SON — MONTAGE

As the ship is shot into ultra-hyperspace, we take a look inside the Wayward Son. Moving through the various rooms of the ship, we see everything — crew members, ship's functions, and the expanding explosion from the ruptured hyperdrive itself — freeze in place as time itself ceases to exist.

EXT. SPACE — XUTHLTAN

With a burst of pearlescent light, the Son returns to realspace. Trailing burning hyperdrive energies from its engines, it careens toward a planet enveloped in sulphur-yellow cloud formations.

EXT. XUTHLTAN — DESERT LANDSCAPE — DAY

Emerging from the thick cloud cover, the Son finds itself speeding towards the surface of a perfectly flat, dried-up riverbed. The craft banks left, putting it on a slightly more stable trajectory, but that is all the ship has left to give. Losing altitude, the Wayward Son hits the ground. Plowing into the dry earth, the freighter carves a long trench as it skids forward.

EXT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — COURTYARD — NIGHT

With a flash of lightning and a crash of thunder, the heavy storm clouds unload their burden. Large rain drops the colour of fresh blood pelt the ground in a torrential downpour. Disgusted by the sight and smell of the red rain, Nemec and Corin quickly leave their lounge chairs and rush inside the house. Nashira, meanwhile, cooly and calmly rises to her feet. Raising open hands to the sky, she looks up, standing in place as rivulets of crimson water run down her face and body.

INT. XUTHLTAN — WAYWARD SON/COCKPIT ACCESS CORRIDOR — DAY

Anakin lies face-down on the deck while Obi-Wan lies sprawled out on his back. Both are unconscious.

INT. WAYWARD SON/COCKPIT — DAY

Cmdr. Vaness and Dr. Moulin remain upright in their seats, sparks flying from the damaged controls surrounding them. Though banged up, they managed to secure their restraints before the crash, saving them from serious injury. Cdmr. Cody, on the other hand, lies in a motionless heap against the bulkhead behind them, a bloody wound across his forehead. Unfastening her restraints, Moulin leaves her seat and crosses over to the motionless Concordian. Bending low, she feels his throat for a pulse.

CMDR. VANESS: (unfastens restraints) Is he —?

ZOSIME MOULIN: Not dead, no — just unconscious. I'd venture he's suffered a pretty severe concussion.

CMDR. VANESS: (puts hands under Cody's armpits) Help me get him up.

With the Gungan's assistance, Vaness hefts the unconscious Journeyman Protector to his feet and drags him to the copilot's seat. Taking care not to jostle him too much, they set him down.

INT. WAYWARD SON/COCKPIT ACCESS CORRIDOR — DAY

As Vaness and Moulin exit the cockpit, they find Anakin and Obi-Wan in the access corridor.

CMDR. VANESS: (shakes Anakin's shoulder) Skywalker — you awake?

Groggy, Anakin comes to. Obi-Wan sits up with a GROAN.

OBI-WAN: (rubs forehead) My head hasn't ached this bad since we attended the Tenaabi Spirits Festival.

CMDR. VANESS: I don't like to rush you, but we need to check the rest of the ship. The others may need our help.

The two Jedi nod acknowledgement.

INT. WAYWARD SON/MAIN CORRIDOR — DAY

As the four step out into the main corridor, they find the air filled with black, greasy smoke, oppressive with heat.

CMDR. VANESS: Oh Lord — the fuel's caught fire! (beat) We need to get respirators and extinguishers and get to the others — fast!

INT. WAYWARD SON/COCKPIT — DAY

They quickly backtrack to the cockpit and strap themselves into respirators, making sure to take up spare respirators and as many fire extinguishers as they can carry with them.

CMDR. VANESS (points at Cody's unconscious form) Obi-Wan, you get Cody off-ship. We'll find the others.

INT. WAYWARD SON/MAIN CORRIDOR — DAY

As they return to the corridor and make their way to the boarding ramp hatch, they feel the already-intense heat grow even more palpable as the hair on most of their bodies begins smouldering. At the far end of the corridor, they can see the shadows being cast by the blazing silver inferno which has already consumed the engineering bay and its surrounding areas.

CMDR. VANESS: Bail's in the #2 hold; I'll go to him. You get off the ship.

ANAKIN: (alarmed) What about the others‽ Kathe's in the crew quarters! What about Mal'Akhi and Andue‽

CMDR. VANESS: If they were at the rear of the ship when the hyperdrive went critical, they're dead.

ANAKIN: I don't accept that!

CMDR. VANESS: Feel that heat, Skywalker? We're not even close to the source and it's intolerable. There's no way they could've survived.

ANAKIN: I still have to try to get to them!

CMDR. VANESS: (angry) Are you suicidal or stupid? They're dead, Skywalker! If we don't get off this death trap, we'll be too!

Anakin grits his teeth, torn between his duty to his comrades and his sense of self-preservation.

OBI-WAN: She's right, Nik. There's nothing we can do for them.

ANAKIN: No ... no!

OBI-WAN: (irate) Anakin, listen to reason!

Finally, silently, Anakin acquiesces.

KATHE NAAD: (O.C.) I think we'd better get off-ship, guys, before this heat blisters my fair skin.

Hearing Kathe's voice, they turn to look behind them. There they find the mild-mannered woman moving towards them from up the corridor, a semi-conscious Bail braced against her. She begins coughing violently as the smoke finally reaches intolerable levels.

ANAKIN: You're alive? We saw you returning —

KATHE NAAD: (coughs) I couldn't sleep, so I took a walk. Capt. Organa and I can both thank the stars for that. Now please — let's go!

EXT. WAYWARD SON — DRIED-UP RIVERBED — DAY

The hatch of the Wayward Son opens and the boarding ramp extends to touch the arid surface. Exiting the demolished, burning ship, the seven surviving team members emerge under the dry heat of this uncharted desert planet.

OBI-WAN: (to Kathe) Did you see Andue or Mal'Akhi on your way out?

KATHE NAAD: (shakes head) I didn't.

The survivors look to their horizons, finding nothing but barren emptiness ahead.


	2. Act II

INT. BATTLEMOON/LUH-3417'S OFFICE

Lu is at her desk, busy going over paperwork, when Sen enters.

LUH-3417: Commander. To what do I owe this unanticipated visit?

SN-5241: A starship was snared coming out of Geonosis.

LUH-3417: It's been so long since the last one, I'd stopped believing there were any left to come this way.

SN-5241: Fortunately for the pilot, she resisted.

LUH-3417: It sounds almost like you sympathize.

SN-5241: Empathize is an apt descriptor, Admiral.

LUH-3417: Consider me informed, Commander. You may go.

SN-5241: Admiral ...

LUH-3417: (sighs) You're still here.

SN-5241: I've noticed the camaraderie you've taken up with THX-1138.

LUH-3417: What of it?

SN-5241: You've been dropping in on each other often as of late.

LUH-3417: I don't expect you to know this, Commander, but THX-1138 and I were born in the same creche. We boarded and attended the same conditioning sessions together. We've known each other our entire lives and have been close friends for that very long. (beat) You don't disapprove?

SN-5241: Friendship is quite within your parameters, Admiral.

Smiling to himself, Sen leaves Lu.

INT. BATTLEMOON/LUH-3417'S CABIN

LUH-3417: He knows about us.

THX-1138: He's a typical SN model, then.

LUH-3417: Don't make light of this, Thex. This isn't something to make light of. He's shrewd. He's the most shrewd, motherless kaj I've had the misfortune of knowing.

THX-1138: I have an SN model as my own first; I'm familiar with their idiosyncrasies. They experience no strong emotion — no rage, no bursts of joy, no spontaneity, no animosity; it's what allows them to perform so well under pressure, what makes them such outstanding commanders, and makes them so thoroughly predictable. (beat) He may know something of our relationship, Lu, but so far as it doesn't compromise our performance, he won't report us — certainly not without evidence to corroborate his claim.

LUH-3417: Thex, our kind aren't allowed to grow this close.

THX-1138: (contemptuous) A reality I'm all too aware of.

LUH-3417: So how can you remain so cavalier?

THX-1138: Tyrants don't care if their subjects disobey the letter of their law so long as its spirit is kept. (beat) If a romance can't bring forth fruit, it's beneath their notice.

EXT. XUTHLTAN — WAYWARD SON — DRIED-UP RIVERBED — SUNSET

Beneath the shade of the wrecked ship, Obi-Wan, Bail, and Moulin sit around Cmdr. Jango Cody. Several hours have passed since the crash and the Journeyman Protector remains unconscious, his body laid out prone atop a scavenged stretcher. Vaness, Anakin, and Kathe emerge from the Wayward Son, each weighed down with as many full knapsacks as they can carry. Coming to the makeshift camp, they unload their burden.

CMDR. VANESS: This is all we could salvage. (beat) We have enough food for fifteen days. We might be able to stretch our water half that long.

ZOSIME. MOULIN: Cmdr. Cody was right; we should have conserved our supplies.

KATHE: Has he stirred at all?

Bail shakes his head.

OBI-WAN: (looks at sky) By the encroaching darkness, I'd wager this planet's sun or suns are going down. If there's any civilization to be found — any food or water — we'd best start searching now, while it's cool enough to travel.

KATHE NAAD: What'll we do for weapons? Your lightsabers were lost in the fire and none of us have extra power packs for our blasters once they run dry. There's no telling what's out there.

CMDR. VANESS: We can fashion knives and spears from the wreckage.

BAIL: Do it. (stands up) Skywalker — you, Moulin, and Naad handle the supplies. Raia, once you're finished making the weapons, take lead. Obi-Wan and I'll handle Cody. (beat) As soon as we're ready, we're leaving.

INT. CORUSCANT — 663 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/LLOMON & MAHTTOH'S FLAT/LIVING AREA — DAY

Sitting in their flat, the Trandoshan and Wookiee go over several hours worth of recorded surveillance footage and transmissions taken from Obi-Wan and Siri's flat. Though their non-Human faces are hard to read, they are immensely frustrated.

MAHTTOH: (in Shyriiwook, subtitled) It's been over a week since we bugged the apartment. Kenobi hasn't once shown up or made a transmission, and she hasn't made any transmissions to him. (beat) This is hopeless!

LLOMON: (in Dosh, subtitled) Hopeless? No. We've just reached the limit of what surveillance alone can teach us. If we're to learn where the husband is, we're going to have to ask the wife. (stands up) We're heading back to the Ryyk. Once we've suited up, we're going to pay Siri Tachi a house call.

INT. JEDI TEMPLE/WINDU FLAT/LIVING AREA — DAY

Siri and Uzochi are decked out on the couch, watching cartoons on the holovid display, when the front door opens and Master Windu and Mistress Gallia enter.

UZOCHI: (ecstatic) Mommy! Daddy!

Bolting off the couch, the little boy runs to his parents, seizing Gallia's leg tight. The two are as happy to see their son as he is to see them.

MACE WINDU: (grins) Hello little man. How's your day been?

UZOCHI: Me and Siri's been watching Bungo 'n' Rusti!

Leaving the couch, Siri approaches the Jedi masters and child.

SIRI: You're home early.

ADI GALLIA: It was unusually slow in the council chambers today. We were able to call it a night early. (to Uzochi) Now we can spend some time with our special little guy, can't we?

MACE WINDU: What would you like us to do, 'Chi? The choice is yours.

UZOCHI: (thinks it over) Ice cream?

MACE WINDU: (laughs) No problem. (to Siri) Would you care to join us?

SIRI: (shakes head) This is your time.

The Jedi masters accept that answer.

SIRI: (to Uzochi) I'll see you tomorrow.

UZOCHI: Bye, Siri.

Smiling, Siri gives the boy's head a rub.

INT. 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/CORRIDOR OUTSIDE OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT — DAY

Emerging from the turbolift, Siri makes her way to her flat door. Unlocking and opening the door, she enters.

INT. 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT/ENTRANCE HALL — DAY

As soon as she closes the door and moves to turn the lights on, Siri freezes, suddenly apprehensive for an unknown but all too palpable reason. Reaching for her lightsaber, she pulls it from her belt. Suddenly, a large metal net unfurls from the darkness. Catching Siri, it forces her back against the door, holding her in place as a stun charge courses through the mesh. Gritting her teeth against the shocking pain, she triggers her lightsaber. With a SNAP-HISS, the brilliant yellow blade of her lightsaber springs to life, burning through the mesh of the net and disrupting the charge. As the Jedi cuts herself free, her assailants emerge from the shadows, revealing themselves to be Llomon and Mahtto. Dressed head-to-toe in identical suits of brown body armour, the bounty hunters wield a vibroaxe and vibrosword, respectively.

With a GROWL, Mahttoh springs forward, swinging his blade at Siri's exposed neck. Ducking, the Jedi then jumps high, delivering a kick to the Wookiee's jaw. Spitting teeth, Mahttoh trips over himself and hits the floor as Siri turns on Llomon. Grinning, the Trandoshan blocks the blade of her lightsaber with his vibroaxe. Mahttoh brings his lanvarok into alignment and fires off a razor-edged disc. The disc grazes Siri's leg, distracting her long enough for the Trandoshan to backhand her, sending the Jedi Knight reeling. She collects herself just in time to parry the Wookiee's vibrosword, which is also crafted from lightsaber-resistant phrik alloy.

Llomon charges, swinging his vibroaxe, but Siri leaps up, evading the deadly blade. Somersaulting over Mahttoh's head, she stabs backward with her lightsaber, hoping to skewer the Wookiee on the blade. As the plasma blade makes contact with his cortosis armour, however, it shorts out, rendering it inactive. Grinning, Mahttoh unsheathes the claws of his right hand and racks them against Siri's sword arm. Crying out in agony, she drops her disabled weapon. Clutching her bleeding arm, Siri staggers back, putting as much distance between herself and the bounty hunters as she can.

SIRI: (grimacing) Who are you?

LLOMON: What we want is the question you should be asking.

SIRI: What do you want then‽

Llomon brings the blade of his vibroaxe close to Siri's throat.

LLOMON: Kenobi.

SIRI: He's away in the war. It'll be months before he returns home.

LLOMON: That's too bad for you.

Llomon swings his axe to cleave her in twain; Siri seizes the weapon's shaft before the vibrating blade can connect. Gritting her teeth, she wrestles with the Trandoshan for control of the vibroaxe. Bringing up his lanvarok, Mahttoh prepares to fire off another razor disc, this time to finish the Jedi off.

At that very moment, the front door opens and Mace Windu, lightsaber engaged in hand, steps inside. Surprised, the two non-Humans freeze momentarily, evaluating this new arrival.

MACE WINDU: I'm sorry — did I break your concentration?

Taking his lanvarok off Siri, Mahttoh trains it on Windu, firing off a volley of discs. With a flurry of movement, the Jedi master intercepts each and every disc, slicing them apart with his blue blade as he advances on the Wookiee. Lowering his lanvarok, Mahttoh hefts up his sword. As the Jedi master and Wookiee bounty hunter cross blades, Siri sends her heel down on one of the Trandoshan's feet. Unleashing a ROAR of agony, he loses hold of the vibroaxe. Exploiting her newfound advantage, she brings the shaft of the axe up into Llomon's chin, snapping his head back and throwing him off balance. Hitting the floor, the Trandoshan seizes Siri's fallen lightsaber, engaging the yellow blade just in time to block Siri's blow as she brings the vibroaxe down on his face.

SIRI: (to Windu) Watch for the armour!

Bringing his lightsaber around in a downward arc, Windu tries slicing through the Wookiee's wrists. The blue blade winks out upon making contact with one of the cortosis gauntlets.

MACE WINDU: (stares at inactive hilt) Point taken.

Windu ducks as Mahttoh goes for his face with his claws, following it through with a roundhouse kick to the Wookiee's armoured chest. Thrown backward, Mahttoh hits the living area picture window, shattering it with a resounding CRASH. Falling through, Mahttoh releases a bloodcurdling HOWL as he takes the long plummet to the ground far below.

LLOMON: (horrified) Mahttoh!

Distracted, Llomon fails to intercept Siri as she brings the vibroaxe down on the unarmoured joint of his right arm, slicing clean through the flesh and bone. He clutches the gaping wound with a SHRIEK, desperately squeezing to staunch the flow of blood. Now standing defenseless before the Jedi Knights, the Trandoshan's only route of escape lies through the broken picture window.

MACE WINDU: (reactivates lightsaber) Stand down.

Spitting at the Jedi with contempt, Llomon turns and bolts for the broken window. Before the Jedi can stop him, he leaps through, unholstering a grappling gun and shooting off a line as he disappears from view.

Deactivating and discarding the vibroaxe, Siri retrieves her lightsaber from the grip of the Trandoshan's severed hand as she joins Windu by the shattered window.

MACE WINDU: Who were they?

SIRI: They came for Obi. I've no clue why. (beat) I thought you and Mistress Gallia were taking 'Chi out for ice cream.

Reaching into his tunic, Windu pulls out a slim silver card.

MACE WINDU: 'Chi got hold of your credit chip.

EXT. XUTHLTAN — DRIED-UP RIVERBED — DAWN

The survivors of the Wayward Son march on, sluggish and weary from over a week of nigh-endless exertion under the planet's unyielding dry heat. Lids heavy, Moulin uncaps her canteen and raises it to her long, cracked lips. When her tongue is met with no water, she futilely taps the canteen's bottom.

ZOSIME MOULIN: (returns canteen to belt) I'm dry.

KATHE NAAD: (offers canteen) Have some of mine.

ZOSIME MOULIN: (raises hands) I couldn't.

KATHE NAAD: Please. I can do with less water than you.

Tentative, the amphibian takes the young woman's canteen. Uncapping it, she takes a short sip.

ZOSIME MOULIN: (returns canteen to Kathe) Thank you.

CMDR. VANESS: (halts) Stop.

At the commander's order, the others come to a sudden halt. Before them, almost indiscernible from their angle of observation, the river bed comes to an abrupt end, transitioning into a vertical drop in the rock which stretches several metres. Most likely a high waterfall at some point in this planet's history, it — along with the rest of the landscape — dried up a long time ago. With Obi-Wan's assistance, Bail lowers Cody's stretcher. He then joins his second-in-command at the drop.

BAIL: (looks over drop) It goes down a ways. (beat) It looks too steep to climb down.

KATHE NAAD: We salvaged line from the wreck.

BAIL: Let's have it.

Lowering their packs, Anakin, Kathe, and Moulin begin fishing around inside in search of the line. The Gungan soon finds the bundle of line in one of hers.

ANAKIN: (points at something in distance) What's that way over there?

Following his finger, Bail and Vaness find, past the dried-up waterfall, far away but not beyond walking distance, a large mass rising out of the otherwise flat terrain. Pulling out her pair of electrobinoculars, Vaness takes a look.

CMDR. VANESS' P.O.V. — ZIGGURAT

Through the electrobinocs, we can see the mass is no natural formation. Though fine details still cannot be made out, it is clearly a ziggurat, consisting of two levels with a prominent ramp leading to the first and a stairway leading to the second.

CUT TO

Vaness handing the electrobinocs to Bail.

VANESS: It's a ziggurat.

BAIL: (looks through electrobinocs) So this planet's not as empty as we were led to believe.

VANESS: There're no other traces of civilization, Bail. No agriculture; no other buildings; definitely no sign of people. It looks as dead as everything else we've seen.

BAIL: Regardless, there may be something of value inside. (lowers electrobinocs) I'm game to find out if you are.

VANESS: (shrugs) I'm game.

BAIL: Alright. (to others) We'll rest here 'til sundown. We have a long trek ahead of us come nightfall.

CUT TO

Later that day, after the sun(s) have lowered, colouring the sky the dim blue-gray of twilight.

The line has been secured to an outcropping of rock. Vaness is already making her way down the old waterfall.

BAIL: We don't know how grievous Cody's injuries are, so we can't risk taking him past this point. One of us will have to stay behind to watch over him.

OBI-WAN: (takes Anakin aside) Perhaps you should stay. Your condition ...

ANAKIN: I haven't dreamt once since we got here, and I'm not hearing voices anymore. (beat) Whatever it was I was fighting, I think I beat it. (smiles) Small favours, right?

Obi-Wan remains skeptical.

KATHE NAAD: I'll do it.

ZOSIME MOULIN: If you don't mind, Captain, I'd like to stay, too. We haven't run up against any danger so far, but if that were to change, two would have a greater chance of protecting the commander than one.

BAIL: (nods) Very well. We'll leave you some extra water and a comlink. Contact us if his condition changes.

Moulin nods once in acknowledgement.

CUT TO

Bail, Vaness, Obi-Wan, and Anakin as they lower themselves down the line centimetre-by-centimetre. Moulin and Naad, back on top with the unconscious Cmdr. Cody, watch them make their descent.

Soon they come to the end of the line. Letting go, they fall a short but safe distance to the bottom.

EXT. DESERT — MONTAGE

Bail, Vaness, Obi-Wan, and Anakin spend the next several hours hiking through the desolate landscape towards the mysterious ziggurat.

EXT. ZIGGURAT — DAWN

The team of four finally arrives at the ziggurat. Up close, it can now be seen that the magnificent edifice has been wrought out of large red granite blocks, each expertly cut and fitted without the use of mortar. Thousands of years old, the construct has remained remarkably intact, having suffered little damage from the harsh environ. In awe of the ancient ziggurat, the travellers ascend the long ramp into the structure.

INT. ZIGGURAT/ENTRANCE GALLERY — DAWN

The four Humans pass through the open entrance into the gallery beyond. Phosphorescent pigments applied to the runes carved in the walls afford the passage a natural illumination. Lining the walls at regular intervals between the runic inscriptions are several tall statues, each carved in the likeness of humanoid beings, some with plaited beards, all with strange tusk-like protrusions erupting from their cheeks. Obi-Wan halts at the sight of these statues, an immediate recognition setting in.

OBI-WAN: Heavens….

BAIL: What?

OBI-WAN: This is a Sith temple.

BAIL: (confused) Sith?

CMDR. VANESS: Don't you know your history, Bail? The Sith were a cult; the dark Jedi Exar Kun created them four-thousand years ago.

Stepping up to one of the statues, Obi-Wan examines it closely.

OBI-WAN: No. This is a creation of the original Sith. They reigned in their own region of space in the millennia before Kun.

BAIL: These Sith, they're bad news?

OBI-WAN: Once, long ago.

Leaving the statue, Obi-Wan continues down the gallery. The others follow after.

INT. ZIGGURAT/BURIAL CHAMBER — DAWN

The Humans emerge inside the burial chamber. A large, conical chamber, twelve panels line the walls, each engraved with murals depicting the personal history of the chamber's lone inhabitant. In the centre of the chamber, bathed in rainbow light falling through a prismatic skylight set in the distant ceiling above, is a sarcophagus of white jade, the life-like effigy of an attractive Sith woman adorning the lid.

ANAKIN: (shivers) Frigid in here.

The others, including Obi-Wan, look on the Jedi apprentice strangely.

ANAKIN: (rubs arms) Don't you feel it?

OBI-WAN: I don't feel anything.

CMDR. VANESS: It's no cooler in here than outside.

ANAKIN: It's got to be 10° in here. How can you not feel it?

CMDR. VANESS: It's just this place. It gives me the willies, too.

Leaving the others, Anakin approaches the sarcophagus. Examining the serene, sleeping face engraved on the sarcophagus lid, he rests a hand upon the effigy's crossed hands.

ANAKIN: (pulls hand back) OW!

OBI-WAN: (steps forward; concerned) What‽

ANAKIN: (holds afflicted hand) It's ice cold!

Striding to the sarcophagus, Obi-Wan touches it; he feels nothing out of the ordinary.

BAIL: Let's go. There's nothing here for us.

Bail heads off, the others following suit. Anakin dallies a moment, giving the sarcophagus one last glance.

EXT. ZIGGURAT — DAWN

Having emerged from the burial chamber, the four work their way up the staircase to the second level of the ziggurat. There they find another entrance leading into yet another chamber.

INT. ZIGGURAT/TREASURE CHAMBER — DAWN

Entering this second chamber, the ersatz explorers are greeted with a magnificent sight. Countless dozens of chests and urns — all containing precious gems, metal trinkets, and other valuable items — line the walls in several columns, all surrounding a beautiful Sith yacht. Onyx-black and inlaid with red jasper trim, the sensual organic contours of the ship look less the product of an automated assembly line than the exquisite masterpiece of a peerless artisan.

ANAKIN: (whistles) That is one gorgeous ship!

Slowly, almost as if in supplication, they approach the Sith yacht.

BAIL: (runs hand along side of ship) Amazing! It feels almost liquid!

OBI-WAN: Dark though the Sith were, it's hard not to be held in awe of their works. They were master craftsmen; art was a religion to them and they applied it to all walks of life.

CMDR. VANESS: It is a magnificent ship — too magnificent. (beat) There's treasure in the top floor, a jade sarcophagus in the bottom — between the two, there's a fair amount to steal; why isn't this entire complex locked down tight?

OBI-WAN: Perhaps the builders were aware of their world's fate and concluded larceny wasn't a problem that would have to be dealt with.

Wandering over to one of the chests, Anakin flings the lid open.

ANAKIN: (grins) You're not going to believe what's here.

The other three join him. Peering inside, they see just what it is the apprentice has found.

BAIL: Food.

ANAKIN: Carbon-frozen food, as fresh as the day it was sealed.

CMDR. VANESS: (ecstatic) When the Sith pack a lunch for the afterlife, they pack it tight, don't they?

Moving to another chest, Anakin flings it open, then moves over to yet another chest and flings it open; more carbon-frozen food and water.

ANAKIN: There's a month's worth of food in these crates alone!

BAIL: We'll take one back with us when we leave.

CMDR. VANESS: We should try getting aboard the ship. There may still be enough juice in the onboard systems to broadcast an SOS.

BAIL: (nods) Let's do it.

INT. SITH YACHT/COCKPIT — DAWN

Having figured out how to open the entry hatch, they climb inside the cozy ship. As with the exterior, the interior is crafted along organic lines. Crossing over to the controls, they don't find the usual switches or buttons but an array of control crystals, all embedded in the panel.

CMDR. VANESS: (frowns; to Obi-Wan) Do you know how to operate these controls?

OBI-WAN: (scrutinizes crystals) Adegan crystals. They are Force-attuned, so I may be able to intuit their function.

Positioning his hands over the crystals, Obi-Wan closes his eyes. Several moments pass, then he begins — with much concentration and consideration — to lay his hands on the crystals, touching a select few of them in a non-random order. Once he has completed the sequence, those crystals which have been touched begin resonating with a throbbing glow.

OBI-WAN: It's done.

Grinning, Vaness takes Obi-Wan by the shoulders and plants a firm kiss on his lips.

CMDR. VANESS: If we both weren't spoken for, I'd award you more than a kiss.

Try as he might, the knight can't keep himself from blushing.

EXT. ZIGGURAT — DAY

With one of the chests of food and drink held between the four of them, Obi-Wan, Anakin, Vaness, and Bail descend the ramp, _en-route_ back to their three companions waiting by the drop.

INT. ZIGGURAT/BURIAL CHAMBER — DAY

Back inside the burial chamber, all is still and quiet. Suddenly, the twelve muraled panels on the walls begin retracting into the ceiling, revealing hidden compartments.

As heavy mist billows out from the dark openings, a LARGE YELLOW HAND BEARING THREE LARGE BLACK CLAWS reaches out from inside one.

INT. GEONOSIS — GENERIC FAMILY HUT/LIVING AREA — NIGHT

The members of the typical Condawni family are nowhere to be seen. Their living area lies in disarray as a news telecast plays on the holovid display in front of their empty sofa.

The newscaster — dirty and disheveled — relays the disturbing news that supplies of food have all but run out and people across the provinces are resorting to cannibalism to stay alive. Large "food gangs" have amassed and begun prowling the streets, on the hunt for anything or anyone they can kill for food. In fear of the savages marauding topside, many of the Geonosians living beneath the surface of the planet have either blocked the access tunnels to their subterranean cities or preemptively struck back, coming topside in swarms to eradicate the non-Geonosians living in close proximity to their underground domains.

INT. CONDAWN CAPITOL HOUSE/CONFERENCE ROOM — NIGHT

Chlorian Vader, the LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, the OTHER GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS of Condawn province, and VARIOUS OTHER FIGURES who maintain Capitol Centre sit around a rectangular conference table. Their discussion boils down to this: Though the Centre is a veritable fortress — protecting everyone inside from everyone outside — they have no food and are going to starve to death unless they take a chance venturing out beyond the gates in search of sustenance. They argue about the feasibility of this proposal; many bring up the unwelcome truth that as few in number as they are, with little in the way of weaponry and no armour to protect them, they won't last long off Centre grounds.

When it seems no one has an idea on how to proceed, someone makes mention of an underground escape tunnel beneath the Centre which leads to the wilderness beyond Condawn City. Though the open desert will be cold, being summer, the temperatures should be within tolerable limits. The wildlife should also be plentiful enough to keep them the next few months.

Chlorian decides the escape tunnel is the best option available. Rising from his chair, he tells everyone to get to their loved ones, to their employees, and inform them to immediately prepare for departure.

INT. MEDCENTRE/SHMI'S ROOM — NIGHT

Darth enters his mother's room. She is as still and silent as ever, eyes closed in a dreamless sleep over the ventilator mask which rhythmically breathes for her. Crossing over to his usual chair, Darth holds up a datapad.

DARTH: Hey, Mom. I thought I'd read you something new. It's The Maverick Moon. Remember how you used to read it to me when I was little? I thought you might like me to read it to you.

Sitting down, Darth calls the story up on his handheld device.

DARTH: In another time, in a faraway galaxy, there lived a young man named Deak Starkiller. He was a student at the New Academy for Space Pilots, and already he was one of the best young pilots in the solar system. (beat) Deak and his classmates, the Planetary Pioneers, were training for a special mission. They were going to fly young men and women — the smartest and strongest and most talented — to uninhabited planets. There they would help build new colonies, founded on peace, justice, and good will toward their fellow members of the galaxy. (beat) One morning Deak raced toward the Academy at breakneck speed. His good friend Princess Zara Antilles was coming to visit the Academy. Deak wanted to be there when she arrived so he could show her some of the Pioneers' exciting plans. (beat) When Deak reached the Academy, he hopped out of his landspeeder. Some of his friends waved or called good morning. All of them smiled. They knew why Deak was in such a hurry. Princess Zara had arrived. Although she was one of the youngest members of the intergalactic government, she was well known to everyone. (beat) Deak proudly showed Zara around the Academy. He told her about the work of the Planetary Pioneers. "Some of us will be building homes and schools and power stations," he said. "Right now we are planning to use our powerful zukonium rays in the power stations. Instead of being used for war or destruction, zukonium will provide energy for our colonies." "It sounds terrific, Deak," said Zara.

Darth stops, the story calling up near-forgotten memories of when he was younger, before he started going to school and getting into trouble, a still-innocent child who hadn't yet learned to read on his own. Biting his lip, he tries stifling the tears he feels coming but cannot. At that very moment, Shmi's eyes open. Cloudy at first, they quickly clear as they focus on Darth.

DARTH: Mom?

Shmi slowly raises her arm, hand trembling as she reaches for her son. He quickly takes it in both hands, squeezing and stroking it to let her know that he's here, that he cares.

DARTH: Oh, Mom! It's me, Mom — Darth! You're okay, right? You're gonna be okay!

But she isn't going to be okay. Her eyes, momentarily alert, filled with unconditional love for her son, roll up in her head as she goes into a violent, full-body seizure.

The alarm on her monitor goes off and medics rush in to administer aid. Screaming at the top of his lungs that he won't leave her, Darth strives to hang onto Shmi, but the adults pull him away and drag him kicking from the room.

EXT. XUTHLTAN — DRIED-UP RIVERBED — SUNSET

As another day draws to a close, Kathe Naad stands crouched down on one knee over the dead waterfall, looking out to the ziggurat far in the distance. She can see the four travellers returning from the Sith edifice with chest in tow.

Zosime Moulin sits on the ground away from Kathe, beside the reclining Jango Cody. Immersed in her own thoughts, she doesn't notice Cody regain consciousness until she turns on a whim, finding him already sitting up.

ZOSIME MOULIN: (Startled) WHA! (beat) Commander! I … I'm …

CMDR. CODY: (hoarse) Water.

Still unnerved, the doctor scrambles about until she finds herself a canteen. Taking the canteen from her, the Journeyman Protector gulps down what little water's left at the bottom. Unsatisfied, he frowns deeply.

ZOSIME MOULIN: I'm sorry, Commander, but you just drank the last of our water.

CMDR. CODY: (looks about) Where are we? Where're the others?

ZOSIME MOULIN: I wish I could answer that first question, but I'm afraid I don't know where we are. Something went wrong with the Son's hyperdrive — an explosion — catapulting us … here. (beat) We spotted what looks like a ziggurat the other day, in that direction. (points to ziggurat) The captain, commander, and Jedi went off to find anything of value. They've been gone since.

CMDR. CODY: Mal'Akhi?

ZOSIME MOULIN: (looks down) Dead. Killed with Andue in the accident.

CMDR. CODY: (leans close to Gungan) Doctor, that wasn't an accident.

ZOSIME MOULIN: (frowns) No accident?

CMDR. CODY: It was a deliberate act of sabotage. I know because I saw the saboteur; I saw her in the engineering bay before we jumped back to lhyt-speed; I found what she left of Andue in the hyperdrive access tunnel; I found the hyperdrive wired to explode. I tried to warn you — stop you — but you'd already made the jump.

ZOSIME MOULIN: (horrified) One of us did this? Who‽ Who was it‽

KATHE NAAD: (O.C.) It was me.

The Journeyman Protector and Gungan turn their heads, finding the young Human woman standing over them. In her left hand, inactive but held ready, is Obi-Wan's lightsaber.

ZOSIME MOULIN: (incredulous) Kathe‽

KATHE NAAD: I'm sorry.

Kathe triggers the azure blade, but Cody is already moving, rolling clear of the saber's range. As for Zosime, it is too late; with a single broad sweep of the Jedi weapon, Naad clears the Gungan's head from her body. Moulin dispatched, Naad turns on Cody. But even unarmed, the Journeyman Protector's military background gives him an edge over the untrained woman. Seizing both her wrists and pushing the glowing blue blade away from him, he knees her in the side, forcing her hands open. The inactive hilt falls, hits the hard-packed earth, and the commander makes a dive for it. Furious, the woman dives after him. Their hands locking around the lightsaber together, they begin struggling over it.

EXT. DRIED-UP WATERFALL — SUNSET

Coming to the length of line dangling overhead, the four stop, crouching down to lower their chest of foodstuffs to the ground.

CUT TO

Cody and Naad, still wrestling about the ground for Obi-Wan's saber.

CUT TO

The four travellers as they shimmy up the line.

CUT TO

Naad as she goes to bite Cody's throat.

CUT TO

The four travellers as they continue shimmying up the line.

CUT TO

Cody as he headbutts Naad, forcing her off him, winning him the Jedi weapon.

Rolling away from Naad, he springs to his feet. With a SNAP-HISS, he engages the blade of azure plasma.

EXT. DRIED-UP RIVERBED — SUNSET

Coming up over the edge, the quartet finds Cody and Naad standing there staring each other down, Obi-Wan's lit lightsaber in the Journeyman Protector's hands.

BAIL: (nonplussed) What is this‽

Hearing the captain's voice, both combatants swivel their heads in his direction.

KATHE NAAD: (points at Cody) He's had your lightsaber, Obi. He stole it from your quarters and he's had it on him this whole time! He was faking unconsciousness, and when he was ready, he attacked us! (points at Moulin's remains) He killed Zosime!

CMDR. CODY: She's lying! Don't listen to her!

KATHE NAAD: And the explosion? The crash? It was him! He did it! He sabotaged the Son's hyperdrive! He stranded us on this forsaken rock! He's a spy for the clonemasters! He did it all for them!

CMDR. CODY: (outraged) Never! I'd never side with the cloners!

BAIL: (unholsters blaster) Stand down, Commander.

CMDR. CODY: (angry) Captain, you know me! You know what happened on Concord Dawn — what happened to my family!

BAIL: (levels blaster at Cody) Yes, I know what happened to Jango Cody on Concord Dawn.

CMDR. CODY: (incredulous) What happened to Jang-! (beat) I am Jango!

BAIL: I don't know that.

CMDR. CODY: I'm not a clone!

BAIL: Hand over the saber and we'll talk about it.

Speechless, Cmdr. Cody is left no alternative. Disengaging the lightsaber, he hands it to Bail. Bail — never taking his eyes off the Journeyman Protector for a moment — returns the hilt to Obi-Wan.

BAIL: Raia, secure him.

Taking a length of line, Cmdr. Vaness moves in behind Cody, pulling his hands behind him and tying them fast together.

CMDR. CODY: (nods to Naad) What of her? Search her, search the bags; she may have taken the boy's weapon. If you find it, you'll know I'm telling the truth.

As Anakin moves in behind Naad and frisks her for hidden weapons, Obi-Wan rummages through the knapsacks.

ANAKIN: (finishes frisking) She's clean.

OBI-WAN: (finishes searching knapsacks) Anakin's lightsaber isn't here.

BAIL: (sighs; to Cody) Well, Commander, that avenue's out.

Cmdr. Cody responds with a harsh Concordian curse.

INT. GEONOSIS — MEDCENTRE/CORRIDOR OUTSIDE SHMI'S ROOM — NIGHT

Doctors, nurses, and patients are hurriedly leaving the medcentre for the escape tunnel. Summoned to the medcentre, Chlorian finds a doctor sitting with Darth; the boy is catatonic. Rising from his chair, the doctor takes Chlorian out of earshot of Darth and tells the governor that Shmi died of a stroke. Chlorian goes into shocked silence for a moment, unable to believe what he is hearing. Chlorian then tells the doctor to take Darth and join the others gathering at the tunnel entrance, that he will personally take care of Shmi's body.

INT. CONDAWN CAPITOL HOUSE/MEAT LOCKER — NIGHT

Chlorian enters an empty meat locker, the still form of his lover in his arms. Opening a secret compartment beneath the floor, he gives his final farewells, kisses Shmi's forehead, then seals her within the makeshift tomb.

INT. WAREHOUSE — NIGHT

The DENIZENS of the Capitol Centre — all 400+ of them — have come to the warehouse, gathered around a large turbolift platform which will take them underground. Entering, Chlorian goes to the head of the crowd. Addressing them, he tells them to make sure no one is missing and to leave behind all non-essential items.

The first group of escapees climb aboard the turbolift platform and are lowered into the escape tunnel.

EXT. XUTHLTAN — DRIED-UP RIVERBED — NIGHT

Night has fallen. Cody remains tied up, seated upon the ground, back against a large boulder. For the others, all but Vaness and Kathe have fallen asleep, dead-tired from all the activity of the last couple days. Vaness sits in the space between Cody and Naad, legs crossed, hands in her lap, eyes on the Journeyman Protector and cryptographer both. Vaness is only Human, though, and she, too, is exhausted; it is only a matter of time before her resolve fails her and she joins her companions in slumber.

Once she is certain Vaness is asleep, Kathe slowly rises. Straightening her neck, tilting her head back and opening her jaws as wide as she can, she slowly regurgitates a metal cylinder: Anakin's lightsaber. Taking the Jedi apprentice's weapon in her hand, she approaches the restrained Journeyman Protector. Cody, eyes hard, doesn't say a word; he merely looks past her. Following his gaze, Naad turns around. Standing behind her, wide awake and none too happy, is Anakin. Bringing the hilt up, the woman swings it to bash the Jedi's head in, but he catches her wrist and takes the saber away from her. Lunging forward, she bites his wrist.

ANAKIN: ARGH!

Acting on reflex, Anakin loses his hold on her wrist. Turning, Naad dashes off into the night. Scowling, he takes off after her.

CUT TO

Naad running madly through the darkness, desperate for escape.

Running high on a rush of adrenaline, she soon exhausts her reservoir. Stamina spent, she slows to a halt, breathing heavily, hands on knees for support. Catching up to Naad, Anakin comes to a stop. There's no sign of weariness in his demeanor whatsoever.

ANAKIN: No more games, Kathe.

Still out of breath, Kathe doesn't answer. Taking her silence for surrender, the apprentice takes her arm. Before he can leave with Naad in tow, he halts, eyes widening in sudden alarm. In the featureless darkness before them, like embers suspended in the ether, are six pairs of glowing yellow eyes. Releasing Naad, Anakin engages his lightsaber. Blazing bright, the cyan light reveals SIX RAKGHOULS standing before the two Humans. Hulking yellow humanoids, the rakghouls have two vertically arranged slits for nostrils high up on their faces; black spines growing out of their backs and heads; hands and feet sporting three sharp claws each; and large, wide maws filled with sharp, jagged teeth.

ANAKIN: Behind me!

Kathe isn't fast enough. Lunging forward, one of the rakghouls takes hold of her. Drawing the woman close, it pulls out her arm and bites down, shearing through the cloth, skin, muscle, and tendon above her elbow.

KATHE NAAD: YYYEEEAAAAGGGGHHHH!

Grinding its teeth back and forth, the rakghoul saws through her arm. As the bone gives way, Kathe collapses, SCREAMING.

CUT TO

The others at the camp.

Already wide awake, they hear Kathe's shrieks in the distance. Taking up their weapons, Obi-Wan and Bail break out into a run. Vaness, freeing Cmdr. Cody of his bonds, takes up her own spear and runs to join them.

CUT TO

Anakin as he attacks the rakghoul who took Naad's arm.

Striking with his lightsaber, he bisects the monster through the shoulder, killing it with the gnawed arm still in its jaws. Two other rakghouls quickly make their move. One slams its balled fists down on the Jedi's back, knocking him flat to the ground, while the other goes for Kathe, grabbing her legs.

Arriving on the scene, Bail and Obi-Wan leap to the Jedi and cryptographer's defense. Hefting up his spear, Bail hurtles it at Kathe's rakghoul, taking it right through the skull, while the knight leaps up and over Anakin's rakghoul, carving a fatal gash through its spine as he completes his arc.

ROARING, one of the remaining three rakghouls makes a dash for Bail. Pulling out his blaster, Bail opens fire. Unfortunately the blaster pack — already low on power — releases a few dim shots which only lightly sear the beast's yellow flesh. Unscathed, it tackles Bail to the ground. Holding the captain fast to the ground, it opens its jaws wide to rip his throat out.

CMDR. VANESS: EEEEYYYYAAAAAAHHHHHH!

Screaming like a banshee, Vaness charges the rakghoul holding her commanding officer down, spear out before her. Colliding with the abomination, she runs the spear through its sternum, knocking it off and away from Bail. Gritting her teeth, Vaness pins the rakghoul to the ground, applying as much pressure to the end of the spear as she can. HISSING, the rakghoul runs its claws down her back, cutting her open. Bearing with the pain, she pulls out a makeshift knife; stabbing down, she pierces the monster's throat, putting a final end to its misbegotten existence.

As Obi-Wan and Anakin finish off the last of the rakghouls, Cmdr. Cody finally arrives. Moving up to Kathe, he takes her in his arms and applies pressure to her injury.

CMDR. CODY: She's bleeding out fast. (to Jedi) You're going to have to cauterize it.

Swallowing, Obi-Wan steps forward to do the job. Bringing out his azure blade, he cuts through the ragged end of the stump.

KATHE NAAD: AAAAHHHH!

With the deed done, the Jedi Knight takes a step back. Breathing rapidly, Naad finally passes out, the shock too great to bear.

BAIL: (examines Vaness' wounds) These look bad.

CMDR. VANESS: (winces) Just flesh wounds. I'll survive.

INT. GEONOSIS — ESCAPE TUNNEL — DAY

After hours trekking through the dank, dark tunnel, the escapees had decided to take a rest.

Chlorian tries to strike up a conversation with Darth, but the boy hasn't said a single word since Shmi died. After some more prodding from Chlorian, Darth finally mutters that it's his fault his mother is dead and that he wants to lay down and die himself. Chlorian tells him that if he does lay down and die, he'll be dishonouring Shmi's memory. If he wants to do right by his mother, he'll get his act together and fight to stay alive.

EXT. XUTHLTAN — DRIED-UP WATERFALL — DAY

Having lowered the incapacitated Naad down the dry waterfall, the remaining members of the team set out for the Sith ziggurat. Anakin and Cody carry the traitor on the stretcher while Obi-Wan and Bail walk on ahead with Vaness behind them.

BAIL: (to Obi-Wan) She's going to die.

OBI-WAN: Without medical intervention, yes, eventually.

BAIL: (scoffs) Eventually. I don't see a medcentre around, do you?

OBI-WAN: Our distress signal will be picked up in time.

BAIL: Naad's running short of that particular commodity.

OBI-WAN: (stops and faces Bail) What do you suggest we do, Bail?

BAIL: She's a traitor. She doesn't deserve our food or our water and we shouldn't be burdened carrying her sorry carcass around. You know what I suggest.

OBI-WAN: I will not be party to cold-blooded murder.

BAIL: You think she'd be half as generous if your situations were reversed?

OBI-WAN: I'm better than that.

BAIL: Sometimes that makes me sick.

EXT. DESERT — DAY

A number of hours later, the group decides to take a break. Naad, still weak, has regained consciousness.

KATHE NAAD: (weary) Hot. Need some water.

Cody exchanges glances with Bail.

BAIL: Give her some.

Uncapping a canteen, the Concordian lifts Naad's head up and helps her take a drink.

CMDR. CODY: She's burning with fever.

BAIL: It's the least of what she deserves.

EXT. DESERT — GROVE OF DEAD TREES — SUNSET

Having continued on, the group now finds itself camped out in a grove of ancient trees. Long dead, the gnarled plants have been bleached a pale bone-white.

As Vaness sets down her supplies, she swoons, suddenly disoriented.

BAIL: (concerned) Are you okay, Raia?

CMDR. VANESS: (puts hand to forehead) Just need to rest, that's all.

As for Naad, she's in even worse shape than she was earlier. Hair and face entirely drenched with sweat, her skin has taken on a sickly yellow hue.

KATHE NAAD: Obi-Wan….

Hearing her weak call, the Jedi Knight crouches down beside her.

OBI-WAN: Yes?

KATHE NAAD: You need to know. Bring the others … they need to know, too….

Obi-Wan signals the others to join him by the dying woman's side.

KATHE NAAD: Several decades ago … before the Clone Wars … the Republic Senate approved funding for the Outbound Flight Project. Have you … heard of it?

BAIL: It was an expeditionary project spearheaded by Jorus C'baoth. The mission was to send 50,000 colonists beyond the borders of the Galactic Republic into the Unknown Regions then past the galactic rim towards the Rishi Maze. Communication abruptly stopped months into the mission and Outbound Flight was presumed lost.

KATHE NAAD: (nods) But several new hyperroutes into the Unknown Regions were charted before their disappearance ... sent back to Republic Intelligence. They never had a chance to make use of them … before the Clone Wars erupted. (coughs) While the Separatist war was still being fought ... the athas procured some of these routes. My masters were already preparing for this war ... so they decided to make use of them. (coughs) "Repurposing" several Starfleet vessels … you'll find them listed as decommissioned or MIA in your files ... the athas established colonies in dozens of uncharted systems outside known space. (coughs) If they ever found the war going south for them … they'd have an entire enclave of troops held back in reserve.

CMDR. VANESS: The route to these dark worlds can only be accessed from the Townowi system.

KATHE NAAD: Townowi leads to Geonosis … Geonosis to the Dark Worlds, as you've so aptly christened them. (coughs) Once Geonosis has been taken ... contact with the Dark Worlds will be re-established. Their forces will rendezvous with ours ... and Geonosis will serve as the beachhead for a renewed assault against the Empire. The war will be prolonged for several more years, (coughs) long enough perhaps for the Autonomy to secure victory. (coughs)

ANAKIN: With the interdiction field up, there's no way to stop them. We can't possibly take out every grav generator in the web.

KATHE KATHE: A battlemoon orbits Townowi…. It's been repurposed to serve as a … hyperspatial distribution board…. All the grav generators have been slaved to it, allowing the zone to be maintained from a sole location…. Seize the battlemoon and you can collapse the web.

Kathe gives them the access codes they'll need to attain passage through the interdiction zone.

BAIL: I don't believe any of this. You wouldn't betray the clonemasters; you're hardwired against it.

KATHE NAAD: (laughs weakly) Look at me, Captain. (holds up yellow hand) My "hardwiring" isn't what it (coughs) used to be.

CMDR. CODY: You're still meat-droid filth.

KATHE NAAD: Meat-droid filth … with all the memories of the original Kathe. (coughs) The athas had to create me like that, y'know; the deception couldn't have worked otherwise. (coughs) She had a good life … before she was harvested…. Loving parents … two great brothers and an awesome cousin…. She knew how to make everyone her friend … how to laugh at herself…. (coughs) You would have liked Kathe and she would have liked you ... as I did.

The clone doubles over, grimacing as she clutches her gut with her single hand. The others back away.

KATHE NAAD: Please understand … I didn't want to do what I did…. I didn't want to kill Andue or Zosime or strand us here…. I had no choice; I had to obey my masters.

Black blood begins seeping from Kathe's eyes, nose, and mouth.

KATHE NAAD: (cont'd) Now I only wish they were here … so I could rip their soulless hearts from their chests and eat them.

With those final angry words, Kathe undergoes her final transformation. Gray eyes turn a feral yellow; muscles quadruple in size; thick black claws erupt from hand and feet; hair falls out to be replaced with black spines; and the head distorts — the mouth widening to accommodate sharp, new teeth — leaving her transmogrified into a bestial rakghoul. Unholstering his blaster, Cody shoots the rakghoul between the eyes, putting an end to her tortured existence.

Vaness looks upon the slain inhuman creature that once was the clone of Kathe Naad, horrified beyond words.

EXT. DESERT — GROVE OF DEAD TREES — NIGHT

Using the dead wood surrounding them, the last five remaining members of the team have built a large pyre for the creature that was Kathe Naad. The fire kindled, orange flames climb the dry wood to lick the mangled, mutated cadaver.

As Vaness stands before the pyre, transfixed as the fire and smoke rise to claim the body lain upon it, Bail, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Cody stand off in the distance.

OBI-WAN: The creatures which attacked us … I finally recognize them. Rakghouls.

ANAKIN: Rakghouls…?

OBI-WAN: Products of Sith alchemy. Utterly mindless, their only motivation was their great, ever-present hunger. The Sith Lords made limited use of them during the Great Hyperspace War, before their use became a liability. (beat) The six we encountered must have been secreted away inside the temple, in stasis these past five-thousand years until we desecrated the tomb.

CMDR. CODY: These rakghouls — they could do … this?

OBI-WAN: Therein lies the efficacy of the rakghoul. Anyone who survived their attacks with just a bite or scratch became a rakghoul themselves.

BAIL: That isn't going to happen to Raia.

OBI-WAN: Bail, I'm sorry….

BAIL: (shakes head) No. If she was infected, she would have turned already. Naad —

OBI-WAN: (interrupts) Naad transformed faster because her exposure to the rakghoul contagion was greater. (beat) It will take Raia longer to succumb to the plague, but she will succumb. It's only a matter of when.

BAIL: (shakes head) No … no….

OBI-WAN: All we can do is inform her, allow her to prepare herself for —

BAIL: (angry) No!

Storming away, he leaves the three men. Joining Vaness by the pyre, he rests a hand on her shoulder, desperately hoping for the gesture to bring some measure of comfort to them both.

INT. GEONOSIS — ESCAPE TUNNEL/EXIT — TWILIGHT

After days of travelling on foot, the escapees have come to the tunnel's end. A narrow doorway rises before them, leading out into a cave.

EXT. PLATEAU WALL — CAVE — TWILIGHT

Chlorian emerges from the cave, which is situated high in the wall of the plateau. From the mouth of the cave, a winding pathway leads down to the flat, open desert which spans the horizon. He begins down the path, the hundreds of escapees following him in single-file.

EXT. XUTHLTAN — DESERT — GROVE OF DEAD TREES — DAWN

Another day has come to Xuthltan. Rising with the hidden sun(s), Bail, Cody, Obi-Wan, and Anakin get ready to resume their trek. Vaness, for her part, remains asleep upon the ground.

BAIL: (approaches Vaness) Raia?

Crouching down, Bail gives her a shake. Waking with a groan, she turns over. She looks absolutely peaked.

BAIL: (frowns) Raia, you feeling okay?

CMDR. VANESS: (nods) More tired than usual. I didn't have that great a sleep; bad dreams.

BAIL: But you're well to travel?

CMDR. VANESS: (sits up) Of course.

Smiling, the captain gives the commander a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

CUT TO

All four men and last remaining woman as they leave the grove of dead trees and the smouldering pyre.

EXT. DESERT — MONTAGE

Vaness grows wearier as the hours pass. As she steadily weakens, the others gradually have to take up her portion of the supplies to ease her progress.

EXT. DESERT — ZIGGURAT — DAY

The travellers come to a stop. A kilometre away, the ziggurat looms over the landscape like a slumbering titan from a lost dark age. Vaness — her usually tan features pale, eyes dark and heavy, forehead slick with sweat — collapses. Rushing to her aid, Bail crouches down and takes her in his arms. Afraid of what he'll find, he puts a hand on her forehead.

BAIL: (voice small) She has a fever.

The others say nothing. There is nothing they can say.

BAIL: (runs hand through hair) Jango, how much charge is left in your blaster?

CMDR. CODY: (checks blaster) Twelve shots worth.

BAIL: Hand it over.

CMDR. CODY: (hands blaster to Bail) Sir?

BAIL: Commander, you and Anakin are going to stay here with Raia; make sure she's comfortable. Kenobi, you and I are going on to the temple.

OBI-WAN: Bail —

BAIL: There may be more rakghouls lurking about, correct? We'll have to clear any out if we're to make base camp at the temple, right?

OBI-WAN: (resigned) Right.

BAIL: Good to hear you agree with me. Let's go.

EXT. ZIGGURAT — DAY

Arriving at the ziggurat, the captain and Jedi climb the ramp, headed straight for the tomb. Bail — face grim, hands clenched tightly around the shaft of a spear — takes point.

INT. ZIGGURAT/ENTRANCE GALLERY — DAY

Bail and Obi-Wan appear in the entrance. As the captain goes on ahead, the Jedi activates his lightsaber.

INT. ZIGGURAT/TOMB

Bail and Obi-Wan enter the tomb. Much is as it was before — except for the six rakghouls presently occupying the chamber. Arranged in a circle around the sarcophagus, they kneel like supplicants before it. Unholstering his borrowed blaster, Bail empties three shots into a rakghoul, killing it.

BAIL: (enraged) Salutations from the Galactic Empire!

Alerted to the Human presence, the rakghouls rise and turn, growls low in their yellow throats. Bail gives them no opportunity to do more than that. Charging, he impales one of the beasts, shoots it right through the head, then pulls the spear out just in time to spin around and open up another rakghoul coming for him. Bringing his blade to bear, Obi-Wan covers his commanding officer, slicing the hands and head off another rakghoul.

CUT TO

Sometime later.

The rakghouls are all dead and the two Imperials have investigated the rakghoul stasis chambers, finding them empty. Hefting up his black blood-stained spear, Bail approaches the white jade sarcophagus. Ramming the point of the spear under the lid, he begins prying it loose.

BAIL: Help me.

Joining Bail, the knight adds his weight to the spear. The lid is stubborn, but it soon gives way. In moments it pops off, sliding away and hitting the floor with a great big CRASH as it breaks in two. There, nestled within the confines of the ancient sarcophagus, arms crossed over chest, are the mummified remains of a Sith priestess. The mummy is dressed in faded vermilion and aureolin robes, its stringy black hair beaded with precious gems.

BAIL: Torch.

Going to one of the many sconces lining the walls, Obi-Wan pulls an unlit torch free and brings it to the captain. Taking the torch, he lights it with one shot from his blaster.

BAIL: (raises torch over bones) Ashes to ashes.

Bail tosses the torch inside the sarcophagus. The rotted clothes and desiccated flesh immediately catch, engulfing the mummy in flame — unnatural green flame. As the ancient corpse is consumed, a gust of wind blows through the tomb, carrying with it a SOUND not unlike a tortured wail.

BAIL: We're done here.

Turning away from the violated sarcophagus and its burnt contents, the two men depart.

EXT. ZIGGURAT — TWILIGHT

Cody and Anakin have brought Vaness to the ziggurat, and the team now sits camped outside the monument, off to the right from the tomb entrance. Vaness, in the advanced stages of her transformation, is now so weak that she needs Anakin's assistance to take a drink of water. Lips blue, skin tinged yellow, she can only take two swallows before she begins coughing. The other three men stand away from the Jedi apprentice and the poor woman.

OBI-WAN: Here they are, Bail, the final symptoms of the plague: yellow skin, blackened lips, paralysis. In three hours, maybe less, she will complete her transformation; Raia Vaness will be consumed by the plague, everything she was lost to the voracious hunger of the rakghoul. Is that what you want?

BAIL: Damn you, of course I don't!

Reaching into Bail's holster, the Jedi pulls out the blaster.

OBI-WAN: Then put an end to her suffering. Let her die with the dignity she has remaining.

Bail, torn between the love for his best friend and confidante and the knowledge that he can't let her leave this life a profane monstrosity, doesn't know what to do.

CMDR. CODY: Bail, if you can't do it ...

BAIL: (angry) No! (beat) I'll do it. Give me the damn blaster.

Obi-Wan hands the blaster to Bail. Accepting the gun, the captain approaches Vaness and Anakin.

BAIL: I'll take over, son.

Anakin gets up, keeping his hands on Vaness to keep her from toppling over. Bail moves in, taking the young man's place. Vaness' condition has worsened in the brief moments which have passed since we saw her last. Her lips have turned completely black, her skin a solid ghastly yellow.

BAIL: Raia?

Vaness' eyes crack open. They remain the same rich brown they've always been.

CMDR. VANESS: (weak) Bail?

BAIL: (smiles faintly) I'm told you're not feeling well.

CMDR. VANESS: (laughs) Not feeling well's putting it quite mildly.

BAIL: (drops smile) Raia, what happened to Naad is happening to you. There's nothing any of us can do to stop it.

CMDR. VANESS: (rolls eyes) I wasn't born yesterday, Bail.

BAIL: (tearing up) You know what I have to do.

CMDR. VANESS: (nods) I've known before you did.

No longer able to hold back, Bail begins WEEPING.

CMDR. VANESS: Bail, it's better this way. Better this than to become one of those things.

BAIL: (wipes tears from eyes) I know. (beat) I don't want to lose you.

Mustering the last of her strength, Raia reaches up to touch Bail's face.

CMDR. VANESS: (sighs) Remember me.

Cmdr. Raia Vaness loses consciousness.

Shuddering, Bail gently lowers Vaness into a reclining position. Rising to his feet, he takes a step back and brings the blaster into firing position.

DARK FORCE'S P.O.V.

At first there is only darkness, then a pinpoint of light appears in the midst of that darkness. That pinpoint grows, swiftly overtaking the darkness until nothing remains but a white brilliance. The brilliance then subsides, affording us a view of the dim skylight situated in the ceiling of the Sith tomb. Moving, the Dark Force reorients itself. Turning in a circle, it takes in the view of all the open doors; ignoring those of the stasis chambers, it focuses on the doorway to the entrance gallery. The Dark Force leaves the sarcophagus for the gallery.

Speeding through the gallery, passing the silent statues and walls of glowing runes in a blur of motion, the Dark Force emerges out into the open air of Xuthltan's approaching night. Turning on its left, the Dark Force spies the five Imperials. Advancing, it closes in on the most vulnerable of their number.

EXT. ZIGGURAT — TWILIGHT

Closing his eyes, Bail prepares to trigger the weapon which will end Vaness' life and send her on to the Force.

Vaness' eyes fling open wide, irises now a feral yellow. Focusing on the man with the gun before her, she lunges at him with a GROWL. Grabbing his wrist, she pulls him to her then takes hold of his shoulder and twists him around, wrenching his arm from its socket.

BAIL: AAAAHHHH!

With a push, the woman that was Raia Vaness sends Bail flying. Landing on his dislocated arm, he issues a second cry of agony. Possessed Vaness lifts herself up with the Force, using it to levitate centimetres above the ground. Raising her hands, she releases a subhuman HOWL. As Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Cmdr. Cody back away from the floating woman in terror, she focuses on them, eyes blazing, bared white teeth contrasting sharply with her pitch black lips.

POSSESSED VANESS: (dual-toned) Defilers! The death-screams of my children called out to me through the darkness, roused me from my ancient slumber! Now you murderers — you profaners — now you all shall die!

Taking up a spear, Cody is the first to make a move against the possessed woman. As the Journeyman Protector lunges at her, she simply dodges, moving left then right faster than he can strike. Grabbing the point of the spear, Possessed Vaness holds it and him in place. Igniting his lightsaber, Obi-Wan dashes forward, leaping up over Cody and Possessed Vaness, landing behind her. As the Jedi takes a swing, she catches the blue blade, the Force protecting her hand from the superheated plasma. Chanting an incantation, she begins resonating with a dark green aura. The lightsaber blade overloads with power then explodes, hurtling the Jedi away with plasma burns all over his face and hands. Returning her attention to the commander, Possessed Vaness pulls the spear to her, bringing Cody close. Tossing the weapon aside, she takes the Concordian's face in her hands and begins clawing at it, gouging bloody furrows in his cheeks, nose, and forehead.

Realizing his lightsaber could be hazardous to use against the possessed woman, Anakin takes up the fallen spear and charges, aiming for her back. At the last second she spins around, using Cody's body as a shield. Before he can stop himself, Anakin ends up running Cody through. Eyes wide with surprise, the commander utters only a short CHIRP in response to the length of cold metal running through his abdomen. Grinning, Possessed Vaness tosses Cody aside, sending him hurtling over the edge of the ziggurat to the ground below. Desperate, Anakin reaches to his lightsaber, but she telekinetically pulls it from his belt to her hand instead. Raising her other hand, she releases a blast of green energy, tossing Anakin off his feet. As Anakin lies there, fighting to think of what to do next, Possessed Vaness chants another incantation. In response to that arcane recitation, several vines erupt from the stone under and around the apprentice, entwining and thickening around his body to hold him in place. Struggling, he tries wriggling loose of those conjured vines, but they refuse to slacken.

That horrid grin still plastered across her yellow face, Possessed Vaness glides over to Anakin, raising her free hand towards him. The black nails on that hand elongate and sharpen, forming glistening ebon claws. Closing in on the trapped Jedi apprentice, she drives her black nails beneath the pliant flesh of his forehead.

ANAKIN: AAAAHHHH!

EXT. NYKRES EIKHAN'S MINDSCAPE

Anakin stands in an unsettling mindscape. It is much like the desolate landscape of Xuthltan, only rockier, colder. The sky overhead is dark with thick, impenetrable violet clouds. Thick fog swirls about his feet. Before the Jedi stands NYKRES EIKHAN. Dressed in robes of vermilion and aureolin, the jet-black tresses of her waist-length hair beaded with precious gemstones, the woman is humanoid, with bright red skin, a pair of short facial tentacles dangling from her cheeks, and a slight simian cast to her facial features. She is an attractive woman, though not in a conventional sense.

ANAKIN: You … who are you?

NYKRES EIKHAN: When I lived I was Kissai of the Third Order, archpriestess in the Pearl Cloister of Ch'hodos. I served the Immortal Gods and their Sith Lords 'til the sundering of the Empire.

ANAKIN: Why have you brought me here?

NYKRES EIKHAN: You are young?

ANAKIN: Twenty years old.

NYKRES EIKHAN: Barely a man. How many seasons have you been Jedi?

ANAKIN: Six years.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (nods) There is much you are ignorant of, much concealed from you — a great many truths.

ANAKIN: I'm no history buff.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (chuckles) Wit. You I would have cherished for a protégé. (grows serious) Come, Anakin Skywalker, see through mine eyes what has been and will be.

Taking hold of the folds of her robes, Eikhan sweeps them over Anakin, casting everything into oblivion.

EXT. SPACE — TYTHON SYSTEM (MINDSCAPE)

Eleven planets orbit an orange-yellow sun.

ANAKIN: Where are we?

NYKRES EIKHAN: The Tython system, 12,000 years past.

ANAKIN: (furrows brow) Tython system….

NYKRES EIKHAN: Know you it?

ANAKIN: Only from myth. The original home of the Jedi.

INT. FIFTH PLANET — BENDU MONASTERY — DAY (MINDSCAPE)

Before Eikhan and Anakin, TWO DOZEN STUDENTS — Human and non-Human alike — sit crossed-legged upon the stone floor. The only garments all of them wear are loose-fitting gray pants worn with orange sashes; those females with mammaries wear bandeaus while none of them wear shoes. The attention of the students is focused on their teacher, a WOOKIEE MONK. Unlike his students, the monk wears an orange robe with a silver-trimmed black tabard. Anakin's eyes are drawn to the mural on the wall behind the monk. The mural consists of a taijitu symbol: two interlocking spirals, black and white, with dots of opposing colour superimposed on each spiral; black-and-white rays extend from the nexus of the interlocked spirals to the dots, bridging them.

ANAKIN: These aren't Jedi.

Under the monk's instruction, each student concentrates on using the Force to form their own individual pearlescent bubble. None succeed; each bubble either implodes or explodes. Shaking his head with disappointment, the monk brings out his hand and forms his own bubble; reaching optimal size, it remains intact, shimmering with iridescence.

NYKRES EIKHAN: Monks of the Order of Bendu.

INT. BENDU DOJO — DAY (MINDSCAPE)

Before Eikhan and Anakin, TWO DOZEN STUDENTS — Human and non-Human alike — train with quarterstaffs. Like the monk's students, they wear loose-fitting gray pants, though with blue sashes in place of orange. A MUSCULAR ZABRAK SENSEI, arms crossed over her chest, observes the students. Unlike her students, the sensei wears only a black fundoshi. One of the dojo walls bears a taijitu mural like the one in the monastery.

NYKRES EIKHAN: Warriors of the Bendu.

Some of the students prove either too reckless or too timid with their quarterstaffs. Shaking her head with disappointment, the sensei takes up her own quarterstaff and chooses two students from each camp to face her one-on-one. As the other students watch, their sensei lays both the timid and reckless student flat with ease. To her pupils, the sensei gives this adage: "Without a fire kindled, you will freeze; without a fire controlled, you will burn."

INT. BENDU TEMPLE — DAY (MINDSCAPE)

Before Eikhan and Anakin, the Bendu monks and warriors kneel on the floor, praying together before a shrine. Suspended within the shrine is a large medallion bearing the taijitu.

NYKRES EIKHAN: The monks and warriors were unified by their shared belief and observance of the almighty Force. (beat) They recognized the Force's dual nature. In this regard, they were as the Sith and Jedi. Yet their understanding of the duality was their own. In light, they saw darkness, and in darkness, light; in order, chaos, and order in the chaos. Good and evil, defined and defining each other. (beat) When balance between dark and light was not maintained, the universe travailed. So through balance the Bendu defined themselves. Only through the harmony of balance could they maintain a peaceful Galaxy.

ANCIENT REPUBLIC — MONTAGE (MINDSCAPE)

The Bendu monks and warriors are ubiquitous throughout the Ancient Republic. Wherever there are weak to defend, sick to heal, ruins to rebuild, or ignorant to teach, they are present.

NYKRES EIKHAN: From the Unification Wars to the Fifth Alsakan Conflict, the Bendu upheld the peace in the Ancient Republic. A thousand generations.

PIUS DEA CRUSADES — MONTAGE (MINDSCAPE)

On Coruscant, on a wide open plaza, a large group of people have assembled to observe a demonstration held by PIUS DEA ADHERENTS. Consisting solely of baseline Human personages with clean-shaven scalps, the adherents deliver a speech to the crowd with much passion, flourish, and rhetoric. They declare that their Goddess has given them a divine mandate to purge the non-Human elements from their society and bring jihad to the impure Hutt Empire. Some in the audience are disturbed by what they hear, but many more are held in awe and admiration of the adherents' words.

In the Senate Hall on Coruscant, a man is sworn in as the new head of state. This is ALDON CONTISPEX, a Pius Dea adherent.

With Contispex in power, the Pius Dea gains control of the Republic government and military. Building a fleet of immense cathedral ships, the sect unleashes a series of crusades against the Hutt Empire and other rival civilizations. Within Republic borders, non-Human and near-Human citizens are subjected to inquisitions, pogroms, and worse.

Finding the actions of the Pius Dea-controlled Republic immoral, the Bendu sever their ties with the Republic. While some Bendu stay and fight, the majority extract themselves from Republic territory and retreat to the Tython system. Their neutrality does not save them. Blockading the Tython system, an armada of Republic cathedral ships attack and lay waste to the inhabited worlds, annihilating their denizens. The surviving Bendu, refined by the fire which claimed their brothers, cast aside their trademark quarterstaffs and take up Force-imbued swords.

After a thousand years of nigh-continuous warfare, the Pius Dea era finally draws to a close. The Crusades aren't ended by heroism or brute strength or a momentous victory, but by exhaustion. Innumerable worlds have been depopulated or brought back to the Stone Age, the Known Galaxy's technological infrastructure crippled; there is little left to fight for, even less to fight with.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) With war's end, the long night began. The Ancient Republic, the Hutt Empire — all ceased to be.

JEDHA — MONTAGE (MINDSCAPE)

Fleeing the sundered Republic, WAVES OF MIGRANTS come to the desert moon. Regardless of who they were or what they believed or who they once fought for, they have come here from depleted worlds to start their lives anew. Among these settlers is a significant number of Bendu.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) For millennia, the Bendu had sought answer to a solitary question: "Why?" Why if they'd maintained harmonious balance did the Goddess of the Pius Dea find purchase in their charges' hearts? Why had their brethren on Tython lacked clairvoyance enough to avoid holocaust? Why had their centuries-borne labours yielded ashes as reward? For millennia this question was asked, for millennia unanswered. The Bendu abandoned hope of ever receiving an answer. Then an answer was received: "Passivity." Through serene contemplation of the universe, the old Bendu believed it would be persuaded to offer up mysteries. Delusion. The universe responses not to passive inquiry, but authoritative command. Through harmony, the old Bendu believed chaos and order could be preserved in balance. Harmony is a lie; the universe's natural state is towards chaos. For order to persist, it must be actively imposed. This the old Bendu failed to learn, but the new Bendu would take to heart.

Together, the Bendu reach out with the Force, broadcasting a signal to the refugees scattered across the moon. Touching their minds, the Bendu compel the settlers to come to them. Packing their belongings, leaving/dismantling their disparate camps, the settlers make the journey by ship, speeder, or on foot to the site the Bendu have chosen for them — a great mesa. Once all have gathered together, the Bendu set about organizing them into a cohesive society. Construction soon begins on a majestic city.

Disharmonious elements inevitably arise among Jedha City's populace, but the Bendu find a use for them. Arresting the thieves, murderers, rapists, and dissenters, the Bendu have them brought to their citadels. Taken down into subterranean cellars, the lawbreakers are subjected to the Bendu's experiments — experiments to alter living matter through the dark side of the Force. These initial experimentations inevitably result in deleterious mutations, but the Bendu refine their techniques. With time, they put their newfound abilities to the task of reshaping Jedha's biome in accordance with their will.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.; cont'd) Yet let there be no mistake — there remained Bendu possessed of the impotent Force.

Unnerved by what they've found in pursuit of absolute control, a substantial number of Bendu withdraw from the dark Force. Firmly adamant in returning to the path of their forebears, they try convincing the other Bendu to abandon the dark arts they've embraced and join them in sanctification in the light. Rebuffing their recalcitrant peers, the Bendu majority continue their dark side practices. Both sides firmly convinced they are right, the arguments turn into conflict.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.; cont'd) Once they were brothers in the Force, but the great schism between the dark side and the light turned Bendu against Bendu.

HUNDRED-YEAR DARKNESS — MONTAGE (MINDSCAPE)

Initially a localized conflict confined to the Bendu district of Jedha City, it spills out into the greater city once the light-aligned Bendu begin recruiting non-Bendu citizens to their cause. To combat the rising threat of the light Bendu, the dark-aligned Bendu use their alchemical talents to raise an army of Force-augmented warriors and abominations.

For the next hundred years, the two camps of Bendu fight for predominance. Truces are declared, followed by periods of uneasy peace, but they inevitably end. Jedha City itself changes hands many times as the numbers/strength of each camp waxes and wanes.

A final battle is then fought. A century of bloodshed ends decisively — with the dark Bendu's surrender.

JEDHA SYSTEM — MONTAGE (MINDSCAPE)

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) They were defeated, driven out, cast out.

In the several months which follow, a sleeper ship is constructed in orbit over Jedha. The knowledge of hyperdrive construction lost a century ago, this ship will be incapable of hyperspatial flight. Its voyage will be made in realspace, at near-light velocity.

Ferried up to the waiting sleeper ship, the dark Bendu are escorted aboard, where they are sealed in stasis caskets for the long voyage ahead. The navicomputer programmed to follow a route to the nearest star, the ship is then launched from its moorings. Sublights engaging, the sleeper ship leaves the Jedha system for the distant stars.

EXT. SPACE — SITH HOMEWORLD (MINDSCAPE)

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.; cont'd) But they turned their exile to victory, on the far side of the Galaxy.

With the passage of four-thousand years — after the rebirth of the Galactic Republic and the rise of the Jedi Knights — the long-forgotten sleeper ship with its crew of sleeping Exiles finally arrives in a system containing a habitable planet.

INT. SLEEPER SHIP (MINDSCAPE)

After launching probes and ascertaining the planet's habitability, the ship's AI disengages the stasis caskets. Awakening, the Exiles climb out of the caskets and make their way to viewports and computer terminals, which afford them their first look at their new home.

EXT. SITH HOMEWORLD — VILLAGE — DAY (MINDSCAPE)

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.; cont'd) Here, on this unblemished world, the vanquished Bendu found a primitive civilization, a new people who worshipped them as gods: the Sith.

On the surface of this planet, we find a village. Inhabiting this village are TRUE SITH. Humanoids with simian features, the Sith also sport prominent eyebrow ridges, a pair of facial tentacles, and skin in various shades of red. These particular Sith happen to be primitive hunter-gatherers.

With a sonic BOOM, the Sith primitives' attention is drawn towards the sky. There, in the taupe sky, dropships from the Exile sleeper ship streak across.

EXT. CLEARING — DAY (MINDSCAPE)

Disembarking from the dropships, the Exiles look around, getting their bearings.

In due time, a PARTY OF SITH come to greet the newcomers. At first apprehensive, the Exiles soon realize the red-skinned aliens pose no threat to them and allow them into their presence. Approaching the Exiles, the Sith come bearing gifts.

SITH HOMEWORLD — MONTAGE (MINDSCAPE)

In their dropships, the Exiles explore the planet. They come into contact with other Sith nations and tribes, all in various states of technological development. Not all of these are as friendly as the Sith the Exiles first met, but utilizing their awesome powers, the Exiles put them in their place.

EXT. SEPULCHRE OF THE GREAT OLD DEAD ONES — SUNSET (MINDSCAPE)

Following Sith legends, the Exiles learn of mysterious sites scattered across the globe. They visit one of these sites, locally known as the Sepulchre of the Great Old Dead Ones. A conglomeration of massive, half-buried edifaces, they are ancient, hundreds of thousands of years old. No Sith will venture onto these grounds, believing them to contain the dormant spirits of evil gods which once dominated the planet. But the Exiles are not afraid; they sense power here.

INT. G.O.D.O CITADEL — SUNSET (MINDSCAPE)

Penetrating one of the Sepulchre's buildings, the Bendu find a treasure trove of technology within — technology predating the Ancient Republic, but far advanced of anything the best scientific minds of the Republic ever devised.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) With unlimited resources and willing slaves, the Bendu Exiles forged the Sith civilization into a new empire.

SITH EMPIRE — MONTAGE (MINDSCAPE)

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) The Sith became many.

Using their dark side alchemy, the Exiles modify the Sith into three distinct subspecies: Kissai — gracile, red-skinned priests; Massassi — muscular, green-skinned warriors; Zuguruk — stocky, charcoal-skinned engineers/workers.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.; cont'd) The Exiles became one ...

Turning their alchemy upon themselves, the Human and non-Human Exiles enable themselves to interbreed with one another. In time they give rise to a new, monolithic, quasi-Human species with pale gray skin and blue-gray hair.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.; cont'd) Lettow — the Sith Lords.

Building a fleet of advanced starships, the Lettow use them in establishing offworld colonies. These colonies grow to number in the dozens, then the hundreds. The Sith Empire is born.

Eventually, the Lettow relocate their base of operations to Ziost — a frozen planet of perpetual night. In the council chambers of their Great Citadel, ELEVEN LETTOW convene. One stands at the centre of the room, surrounded by the others, who kneel in a ring around him, hands planted on the hilts of their swords in obeisance.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) The Sith Empire would be governed by a council of Lettow which, in turn, would be governed by a single appointed Dark Lord or Dark Lady of the Sith.

The Sith Empire continues growing. A minimum of three-thousand worlds come to bear its standard.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (V.O.) The Sith Empire grew great, and rich, and powerful. This was our golden age. (beat) But our golden age drew to a close. Apathy took root. With it, stagnation.

EXT. KORRIBAN — VALLEY OF THE SLEEPING KINGS — DAY (MINDSCAPE)

Eikhan and Anakin stand now on the surface of a desolate planet, within a sheltered valley, the walls of which have had innumerable temples built into them. Effigies and statues adorn the temples, carved in the likenesses of Sith gods and heroes and guardian beasts.

ANAKIN: Where are we now?

NYKRES EIKHAN: Korriban, mausoleum world, final resting place for the great Dark Lords and their vassals.

Leaving the pair, we come to focus on a funeral procession. A SOLEMN LETTOW leads the procession. Behind him, six Kissai pallbearers carry aloft the body of a recently deceased Dark Lord. Behind them are several other Kissai, mourners, Massassi warriors, and labourers.

ANAKIN: Who died?

NYKRES EIKHAN: The Dark Lord Marka Ragnos.

The processioners end their march before the steps of a grand temple. Lowering the body of Ragnos to the ground, the Kissai step back to allow the Lettow — LUDO KRESSH — up to it. Bringing forth a horned helmet he has been holding in his hands, he slips it down over the swaddled head of the dead Dark Lord.

LUDO KRESSH: Marka Ragnos, great Dark Lord, wear this victory helmet during your battles in the afterlife.

The blessing given, the Kissai take up the body and Kressh leads them up the steps to the Grand Temple's entrance. As the Kissai slip inside the tomb, Kressh turns to face the onlooking mourners.

LUDO KRESSH: All hail the memory of Marka Ragnos! His legacy will live for centuries among the Sith people and their rulers!

As this is happening, a Sith yacht descends from the sky. Landing in the valley close to the Grand Temple, it disgorges ANOTHER LETTOW and his personal Massassi entourage.

ANAKIN: Who's that?

NYKRES EIKHAN: Naga Sadow — sworn enemy of Ludo Kressh.

LUDO KRESSH: We wait for no man, Sith Lord or slave. (to Kissai) Let the flames blaze high!

Touching torches to the carved hands of the effigy framing the tomb entrance, the Kissai ignite a pair of braziers, sending great orange flames skyward. Arriving at the temple steps, Sadow and his Massassi ascend, on approach for Kressh and his entourage.

NAGA SADOW: I have come to take my place at the funeral of Marka Ragnos.

LUDO KRESSH: Go back, Naga Sadow! You do not belong here!

Silently ordering his Massassi to stay back, Sadow climbs the rest of the steps.

NAGA SADOW: I belong where I choose to belong, Ludo Kressh!

LUDO KRESSH: (angry) Your rebellious actions and experiments are a threat to us all! I command here!

The two Sith Lords now stand apart, facing each other eye-to-eye.

LUDO KRESSH: (cont'd) You would destroy the greatness Marka Ragnos maintained in the Sith Empire when he was Dark Lord! You shame his memory!

NAGA SADOW: Marka Ragnos was the Dark Lord and I obeyed him while he lived, as everyone must obey the new Dark Lord of the Sith. By rights, it should be me!

LUDO KRESSH: Your ways will ruin the Empire, Naga Sadow! Stepping in dangerous waters, unleashing powers you do not understand — powers the Sith Lords do not need to insure our continued dominance here!

NAGA SADOW: (angry) The Sith Empire is stagnant! For centuries we have done nothing but wallow in our riches and relive our ancient conquest of these worlds! That is no longer enough! (beat) Our ancestors were great Bendu, banished for their beliefs. I will not let that flame be extinguished by our complacency!

Reaching to his side, Sadow grasps the hilt of his sword.

NAGA SADOW: The fate of the Sith Empire must not rest in the hands of a backwards thinker such as you, Kressh.

As Sadow unsheathes his crystalline warblade, one of Kressh's followers hands the other lord his own.

LUDO KRESSH: There can be only one Dark Lord of the Sith.

Taking his warblade, Sadow plants the tip in the stone beneath his feet. Summoning dark Force energy from the enchanted amulets worn upon his hands, he channels it through the sword's blade, charging it with violet energy.

NAGA SADOW: I, Naga Sadow, call upon the power of the Sith … (wrenches out blade; hefts it before him) the power of my Bendu blood … the power of the dark side!

Charging his own warblade with dark blue energy, Kressh points it skyward.

LUDO KRESSH: I fight for the Sith Empire, Naga Sadow — you fight for yourself!

NAGA SADOW: I fight for the future ...

Striking simultaneously, the two Lettow cross blades, releasing a blast of violet-blue Force energy.

NAGA SADOW: (subtitled; cont'd) and the future is now!

As the duel rages, another ship — the Starbreaker 12, a ship not of Sith design — passes overhead, unleashing a great sonic BOOM which resonates through the valley, disrupting the battle and drawing the attention of the Sith. Passing over Sadow's yacht, the Starbreaker 12 comes to hover a ways away from the Grand Temple and the Sith multitude. As the mourners approach the alien craft, lines drop down from the body of the ship, allowing them to anchor the ship in place.

The Starbreaker 12's hatch opens, allowing two young Humans — brother and sister explorers GAV and JORI DARAGON — out to greet the Sith, big smiles on their innocent faces.

GAV DARAGON: Greetings from the Republic! We come in peace!

JORI DARAGON: We're interested in setting up a fine trade relationship with your civilization.

With a wave of her hand, Nykres Eikhan dissolves this vision from the past.

NYKRES EIKHAN: Gav and Jori Daragon were taken into custody, escorted to Ziost and detained until the Sith Lords could glean their true purpose for coming to the Empire. (beat) Naga Sadow saw this as his opportunity to succeed Marka Ragnos as Dark Lord and expand the borders of the Sith Empire; he took it.

ZIOST — GREAT CITADEL — MONTAGE (MONTAGE)

With another wave of her hand, Eikhan calls up another vision — one of Naga Sadow and his followers leading a series of attacks against his fellow Sith to free the Daragons from captivity and plant evidence to make it look as if the Human siblings are the vanguard of a full-scale Republic invasion of the Sith Empire.

NYKRES EIKHAN: Using the Daragons as scapegoats, Sadow created the spectre of an outside enemy, an opposing force that would unify us and ignite the Sith Empire into a golden flame again.

KHAR DELBA — NAGA SADOW'S FORTRESS (MINDSCAPE)

Anakin watches as the Dark Lord leads Jori to the Starbreaker 12 _sans_ Gav. Climbing aboard, she escapes Sadow's snow-laden fortress planet, _en-route_ for Republic Space, unaware of the biomechanical tracking device affixed to the outer hull.

NYKRES EIKHAN: Thus began the great war between our two empires….

GREAT HYPERSPACE WAR — MONTAGE (MINDSCAPE)

Anakin watches as ships of the original Sith Empire and old Republic go to war in space and over the surface of worlds; as Jedi Knights with blazing lightsabers lead troops into deadly groundside battles against Sith warriors wielding alchemically forged warblades and battle axes; as the innocents on both sides die in the anarchy unleashed by Sadow's greed and ambition.

NYKRES EIKHAN: At first the Sith prevailed. Our ships, our shields, our weapons — all far advanced of yours.

As a Republic flotilla futilely attempts haltering the advance of her ship, a Lettow captain activates a Force-based weapon. Reaching deep into the sun of an inhabited system, the weapon wrenches out the fiery core. Rapidly collapsing in on itself, the star goes nova, annihilating everything in the system.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (cont'd) Yet in comparison to your Republic, our Empire was modest in size.

Anakin watches as the Republic Navy drives the remnants of the Sith fleet out of Republic Space, back to the Sith Worlds.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (turns) It should have ended here. You were the victors; the Sith Empire lay in ruin. It did not.

EXT. SITH HOMEWORLD — TWILIGHT (MINDSCAPE)

With a great clap of her hands, Eikhan returns them to the Sith homeworld. Standing out on an open plain, Anakin watches as Sith — not Lettow nor Massassi but defenseless commonfolk — flee in terror as cloaked figures bear down on them astride large caninoid steeds. These cloaked figures, ignited lightsabers in hand, are Jedi.

ANAKIN: (frowns) No ... what is this?

Corralling the Sith like rabbits, the mounted Jedi steer the dozens of Sith adults and children, trampling underfoot those not swift enough to keep pace with their faster companions. Once the Sith have been driven to a dead end — with no space in which to hide or evade — the Jedi bring their sabers down on them, hacking left and right, massacring them indiscriminately.

ANAKIN: (horrified) No!

Bolting forward, Anakin leaps up and tries tackling one of the Jedi murderers from his steed, but passes right through the warrior. Hitting the ground, he rolls then jumps back up, still determined to end the slaughter. As the angry buzzes of blazing lightsabers mix with the agonized screams of wounded and dying Sith, he continues trying to stop the violence, all to no avail. Finally it ends as it must; collapsing to his knees, butchered Sith strewn about him on the ground like broken toys, Anakin Skywalker WEEPS, sobbing into his palms.

Nykres Eikhan, face contorted with rage, strides up to Anakin. Grabbing him by the hair, she forces his head up, forcing him to look back upon the bloodshed.

NYKRES EIKHAN: You see? Do you finally see‽ This is what the Jedi did to my people! Every Sith — every Sith — hunted down, killed to the last man, the last child. (beat) What is it you Jedi claim to be? Guardians of peace? Of justice? Peace of the grave‽ Justice by the sword‽

ANAKIN: (outraged) No!

Pulling, the priestess forces Anakin back to his feet.

NYKRES EIKHAN: This is my past. Now witness your future!

THE DARK FUTURE — MONTAGE (MINDSCAPE)

The plain with its massacred Sith and fallen Jedi dissolves away, leaving Eikhan and Anakin standing within the throne room of the Imperial Palace on Coruscant. It is some indeterminate time in the future, and a coronation ceremony is currently underway. A man — Human, slim, with all other features hidden deep in shadow — sits upon the throne as the grand vizier delivers a speech.

NYKRES EIKHAN: In coming years, your Empire will succumb to corruption. Criminal syndicates will assume control of various and sundry worlds, and evermore senators will aid them in return for wealth and privilege. (beat) From that travail, your new emperor will rise.

Once the speech is delivered, the vizier takes the Imperial crown from a servant. Turning to the man on the throne, he lowers the crown onto his head, officially bestowing him title of Emperor of the Galactic Empire.

NYKRES EIKHAN: He will emerge as a dynamic and pragmatic figure. He will get the government to work again. He will fill the heads of the citizens with grand rhetoric of renaissance.

The vision changes. The grand vizier and onlookers disappear, leaving the emperor alone in his throne. The emperor, face still hidden, now wears a hooded robe of black zeyd cloth.

NYKRES EIKHAN: This face of generosity will be but a mask concealing the true visage he dares not let show. Once secure in power, this mask he will discard. (beat) He will unveil himself as a master of the dark side most powerful.

Anakin sees the robed emperor standing now, telekinetically holding aloft a lowly servant. Closing a hand into a fist, he causes the poor creature to spontaneously combust, immolating him alive from the inside out.

NYKRES EIKHAN: He will conquer the Jedi. They will serve him.

Anakin and Eikhan now stand within the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. The hooded emperor passes between two columns of Jedi Knights, a Jedi master in maroon robes on his left and a Jedi master in ultramarine robes on his right. He inspects the knights, all of whom stand ramrod straight, faces devoid of expression, their customary charcoal uniforms traded in for militaristic black synth-leather uniforms.

NYKRES EIKHAN: This army of Jedi at his beck, your new emperor will see those who withhold fealty to him hunted down….

We now see these dark Jedi in black synth-leather hunt down those Jedi who refuse to bow to the New Order. Following the fugitives to the farthest corners of the Empire and beyond, they cut them down with their blue, green, and yellow lightsabers.

NYKRES EIKHAN: (cont'd) This will be but the beginning. The true horror — that is to follow….

Anakin now sees a flurry of new, evermore disturbing images. Imperial officers murder spouses, parents, even children in pursuit of their objective; legions of soldiers in white plasteel armour swarm across the surface of disloyal worlds, mowing down all whom they find in the scopes of their blaster rifles; Star Destroyers bombard defenseless worlds with torrents of green turbolaserfire; a moon-sized battle station targets a beautiful blue globe and unleashes a powerful superlaser, shattering it and killing everyone alive on its surface in one horrendous instant.

EXT. NYKRES EIKHAN'S MINDSCAPE

The visions end. Anakin and the Kissai return to the original mindscape of overcast desolation.

ANAKIN: (shakes head) No! No, no, no, no!

NYKRES EIKHAN: Yes! And you have not the power to stop it! No Jedi will have power enough to prevent this future from coming to pass!

ANAKIN: There has to be a way to stop this man from becoming emperor!

NYKRES EIKHAN: There are none!

ANAKIN: (faces Eikhan) The Sith! What of the Sith‽

NYKRES EIKHAN: The Sith are gone, their fire extinguished! You extinguished it!

ANAKIN: No! (grabs Eikhan) The Sith Worlds — do they still exist? Where are they‽

NYKRES EIKHAN: They are waste and empty! Waste and empty as Korriban! As my prison!

ANAKIN: Korriban! The Sith Lords interred on Korriban! (beat) Their spirits — do their spirits reside there‽

NYKRES EIKHAN: They sleep in stone as did I, and their power is greater than mine own, but they will never aid you — Jedi.

ANAKIN: Tell me how to reach Korriban!

NYKRES EIKHAN: (bears teeth) If you can pry the words from my dead lips!

Eikhan seizes Anakin's throat in a chokehold. Bending him backward, she digs her nails into his flesh, determined to wring the life from him. He struggles, trying to beat her off, but her ancient rage magnifies her strength. Eyes wild, teeth poised as if to tear his face off, Eikhan forces Anakin down, head toward the ground.

The Kissai fails to notice Pre Vizsla as he emerges from the fog behind her. Gliding up to Eikhan, the ghastly apparition seizes the priestess by the shoulders and wrenches her away from Anakin, sending her hurtling into the mist. Gliding over to her before she can regain composure, he takes her head in his hands and wrests her up until they are eye-to-eye. Applying force to Eikhan's head, squeezing it, he forces her eyes, nostrils, and mouth to resonate with a cold white light — a cold white light which begins flowing into Vizsla. Absorbing Eikhan's essence into himself, Vizsla's spectral form is renewed; his shed blood flows back into his body, the wounds he inherited with death close up. Concurrently, Eikhan's form atrophies, collapsing in on itself, growing ephemeral as the Mandalorian Knight consumes her.

Dying a second death, Eikhan is no longer able to maintain the mindscape she created. Quaking violently, the earth splits apart, opening great fissures which lead straight into a fathomless abyss. From those fissures comes a great vacuum, an irresistible suction which draws down everything: the fog, loose debris, and Anakin himself.

EXT. XUTHLTAN — ZIGGURAT — TWILIGHT

Returning to reality, we find Possessed Vaness and Anakin still there, the apprentice on his knees, trapped in the thick vines, with the yellow-skinned Human/rakghoul hybrid hovering over him, claw-like nails of her left hand buried under the skin of his brow. Their faces are both blank of expression, betraying no sign of the psychic cataclysm occurring within their shared unconscious. Bail remains prone upon the stone, wounded arm trapped beneath him. Gritting his teeth, he forces his free hand beneath his body; finding the blaster pinned under him, he wrenches it free. With the possessed woman's back turned to him, Bail levels the blaster at her and fires, emptying the last of the weapon's energy into her. Striking with deadly precision, the plasma bolts sever the connection between she and Anakin. The woman collapses to a heap, uttering not a sound as she falls. The vines entangled around Anakin quickly wither and decay, allowing him to collapse alongside her.

Cradling his wounded arm, Bail scuttles over to the motionless form of his former first officer. Checking her throat for a pulse, he finds none. Leaving her, he goes to Anakin.

BAIL: Skywalker? (shakes Anakin) Skywalker? Anakin, can you hear me? Anakin‽

The young man, though still alive, is in a catatonic shock. His eyes, fixed open, stare blindly.

EXT. ZIGGURAT — DAY

The next day, Bail and Obi-Wan sit with Cmdr. Cody and Anakin. Though in serious condition, Cody is remarkably still alive; by rolling down the sloping exterior wall of the ziggurat instead of plummeting straight to the ground below, his fall was broken, sparing him immediate death. Anakin remains catatonic, unaware of anyone or thing around him.

As Obi-Wan looks down at his burnt, bandaged hands in his lap, a mechanical HUM begins resonating through the air. Looking skyward, he and Bail spot a homely, ungainly freighter descending towards them.

CUT TO

The Jedi and captain walking down the ziggurat ramp as the freighter lands.

As the two Humans approach the ugly ship, the entry hatch opens, allowing a Bothan and Dressellian to disembark.

INT. UNGAINLY FREIGHTER/MAIN CORRIDOR — DAY

As his crew helps bring the unconscious/catatonic forms of Cody and Anakin aboard, the BOTHAN CAPTAIN faces Bail, who has just climbed aboard, the shrouded form of Vaness' body held in his arms.

BOTHAN CAPTAIN: What happened here?

BAIL: (solemn) A long story, Captain. Perhaps I'll regale you with it when I'm in my right mind.

As Bail files inside, he's followed by Obi-Wan. Turning to the burned Jedi, the Bothan captain quickly exchanges wordless glances with the Human before closing the hatch.

EXT. DRIED-UP RIVER BED — DAY

As the freighter flies through the air on its way back to space, it passes over the wreck of the Wayward Son.

INT. UNGAINLY FREIGHTER/COCKPIT — DAY

The Bothan captain and Dressellian copilot sit behind the controls of their ship, Obi-Wan and Bail seated behind them.

BOTHAN CAPTAIN: (notices Wayward Son) That's the ship you came down here on?

OBI-WAN: Yes.

BOTHAN CAPTAIN: A YT-1300. That's a great ship; my cousin has one of those. Sad it see it in such sorry condition. (faces Humans) Will you be comin' back for it?

BAIL: It's scrap.

BOTHAN CAPTAIN: (shrugs) Looks like a fixer-upper to me.

BAIL: You're welcome to it.

BOTHAN CAPTAIN: Thanks. I think we'll come back this way 'round after our current run, give it a once-over and see if we can't get it towed back to Rinel. (beat) Even if it's a write-off, it's bound to have salvageable parts.

EXT. GEONOSIS — DESERT — DAY

A hunting party led by Chlorian traipses across the flat plains of the cold Geonosian desert in search of prey, but they haven't had luck finding any. Indeed, all evidence supports the unwelcome realization that an earlier wave of Condawni refugees swept through this region long before they left Capitol Centre; the long-dried carcasses of butchered animals strewn about the landscape like organic litter bear this out.

In time, the hunting party comes across a small pack of dog-like massiffs. The reptilian creatures are emaciated, indirect victims of the mass hunting which has depleted the region's fauna. With their blasters, the hunters make short work of the massiffs.

CUT TO

Several hours later.

It is now dusk and Chlorian's hunting party has rendezvoused with their camp's other hunting parties. Aside from one party which scavenged bits of useful meat from a creature something else had killed, none of them succeeded in procuring any food.

EXT. CONDAWNI CAMP — NIGHT

The hunting parties have returned to the ramshackle camp they've established in the open desert. Stripping the meat from the massiff carcasses, they toss it in a broth of boiled red lichen and cook it into a stew. Once the stew is cooked, it is fed to the youngest and weakest members of their camp. Due to the size of the camp, the stew is all gone before most of them get the chance to have any.

Later in the night, Chlorian has a talk with the other leaders. Due to the lack of food in the area, they decide they'll pack up tomorrow and move on.

INT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/KITCHEN — NIGHT

Nashira is in the kitchen, busy loading used dishes into the dishwasher when a mechanical WARBLE begins ululating from the comm booth.

NASHIRA: (sets down greasy plate) Anyone got that?

Getting no reply from either parent, Nashira leaves the kitchen to answer the incoming call herself.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/COMM BOOTH — NIGHT

Entering the cubicle, Nashira turns the flatscreen on. The display immediately displays the logo of the Corporate Sector's HoloNet provider.

COMM: There is one message. Obi-Wan Kenobi to Nashira DuQuesne.

NASHIRA: Open.

Obi's headshot automatically appears on-screen. His face is haggard, his expression perturbed.

OBI-WAN: Nashira … I ... (runs hand through hair) Nashira, it's about Anakin.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/LIVING AREA — NIGHT

Nemec and Corin are seated in the room — he reading a datapad, she watching free-style zero-G swimming on the holovid display — when Nashira walks in stiffly, mouth agape. Noticing their daughter's strange, zombie-like behaviour, they immediately face her.

NEMEC: (frowns) Is something wrong, 'Shira?

NASHIRA: It's Nik. (raises hand to mouth) He's been in an accident.

Her strange, stoic shock breaks and an expression of absolute dread passes over her features. That is when she collapses to the floor, fainted dead away.

CORIN: (horrified) 'Shira!

EXT. MIRIAL — BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE — DAY

Under the turquoise sky of the Outer Rim planet Mirial stands the Brannrid Medical Centre. Cylindrical in shape, the main section of the centre is connected to an inward-curving back wall and a silo-shaped forward section.

INT. BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/CORRIDOR — DAY

A Mirialan nurse approaches Obi-Wan.

NURSE #2: Mr. Kenobi? Dr. Reyem's about to begin.

INT. BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/BIOSCAN ROOM — DAY

Anakin, clad in a pale beige hospital gown, eyes still fixed open, lies motionless atop an examination table. Overhead, a bioscanner attached to a motorized arm comes to life; emitting gold light, the medical device scans the Jedi apprentice's head.

INT. BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/BIOSCAN CONTROL ROOM — DAY

On the other side of a transparisteel window which looks out into the bioscan chamber is Obi-Wan and DR. NADI REYEM, a pretty Mirialan doctor with curly brown hair worn in a loose bun. As the scan of Anakin's brain finishes, Dr. Reyem looks the data over.

DR. REYEM: (frowns) This can't be right.

OBI-WAN: What?

DR. REYEM: I have to take another scan.

Reinitializing the bioscanner, Reyem takes another encephalogram of Anakin's brain. The resulting diagnosis is exactly the same.

DR. REYEM: (shakes head) No, this is definitely not right. The machine must need recalibration.

OBI-WAN: What does the data show?

DR. REYEM: (faces Obi-Wan) The encephalogram doesn't show any of the underlying causes associated with catatonic stupor.

OBI-WAN: What does it show?

DR. REYEM: It shows your friend fully conscious, alert to external stimuli.

EXT. ANAKIN'S MINDSCAPE

In the recesses of Anakin's mind, a lone island of naked rock juts up from an otherwise empty, black sea, surrounded by a layer of thick, black fog. Clutching a shelf of rock, hanging onto dear life over the water, is Anakin. He takes a look down; slowly but surely, the island is sinking into that depthless liquid nothing.

PRE VIZSLA: (O.C.) Be careful hunting monsters, lest you become one.

Anakin looks up. There, standing on the cliff's edge, peering down at him, is Pre Vizsla, looking like he did directly prior to suffering the fatal injuries which led to his physical death.

PRE VIZSLA: (cont'd) For when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back.

INT. MIRIAL — BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/ANAKIN'S ROOM — DAY

Taking Anakin from a hoverchair, two orderlies lay the apprentice down in a narrow hospital bed. After they have tucked him in, they depart.

Now alone with Anakin, the knight looks upon his seemingly oblivious apprentice.

EXT. ANAKIN'S MINDSCAPE

PRE VIZSLA: I am no illusory figment, boy, no cheat of your senses. There's no undigested bit of beef or underdone fragment of potato to my nature. I am Pre Vizsla, and I am very much alive.

ANAKIN: You transferred your soul into my body after yours died.

PRE VIZSLA: Yes. I believed I could commandeer your flesh, but I undervalued your strength in the Force. (beat) Five years I spent trapped in the recesses of your mind, biding my time, waiting for an opportunity to present itself. And now, here we are.

ANAKIN: With me trapped between a rock and a dark place. (beat) So do it — send me to oblivion, take over. You have strength enough now.

PRE VIZSLA: (nods) That's one option.

ANAKIN: (laughs sardonically) Not enough‽

PRE VIZSLA: I don't want your body, Skywalker.

ANAKIN: Gentlemen prefer blondes?

PRE VIZSLA: I lived seventy-four years — time enough to weary of the strictures of the flesh. What desire have I to return to that?

ANAKIN: Then what have I to offer?

PRE VIZSLA: It's what I have to offer you.

ANAKIN: Offer me?

PRE VIZSLA: You sought the route to the ancient Lords' tombworld?

ANAKIN: The coordinates to Korriban? (wary) You're in possession of them?

PRE VIZSLA: The priestess was a cistern, and I drank deep.

ANAKIN: I helped bring your operation on Dania VII down. I destroyed Death Watch.

PRE VIZSLA: Aligned with the Sith, we can restore Death Watch. We can make her great again — as great, even, as the old United Clans — greater. Imagine it; your Dark Emperor cut down and his minions with him, felled by a new Mandalorian Empire — an imperium of warrior-poets which will come to encompass the entire Galaxy — all surrounding galaxies — and endure a 100,000 years. (sighs) A glorious vision, wouldn't you agree?

Crouching down, he reaches out, offering Anakin a gauntleted hand.

PRE VIZSLA: What say you, ex-Jedi to ex-Jedi? Shall I cast you to the Nothing, take your burdened hide for my own, and proceed alone? Or shall we be brothers?

Anakin takes a moment to consider Vizsla's offer, but only a moment. He accepts the Mandalorian Knight's proffered hand.

INT. MIRIAL — BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/ANAKIN'S ROOM — DAY

Reaching out, Obi-Wan prepares to make contact with Anakin's mind. That's when Anakin's eyes come into focus, pupils dilating to pinpoints in their orbs. Lashing out, he seizes Obi-Wan's wrist. Rearing up in bed, he tightens his grip, a deep, ugly frown twisting his face.

ANAKIN: You….

With his other hand, the enraged Anakin seizes Obi-Wan's throat in a chokehold. Startled, the Jedi staggers back, but Anakin remains latched on. Falling to the floor, the apprentice collapsing atop him, Obi-Wan desperately tries wriggling loose of the fingers holding him fast, but the apprentice, still livid, yields not.

ANAKIN: Liar!

As Obi-Wan's face turns purple, the door bursts open. Dr. Reyem and the two orderlies dash inside, the latter rushing Anakin, pulling the maniacal apprentice from his master and pinning him to the floor. Taking out a hypo-syringe, Reyem moves forward, avoiding Anakin's thrashing legs, and plunges the needle deep into his gut. It takes several seconds, but the sedative's effects eventually kick in; losing strength, Anakin slips back into unconsciousness.

DR. REYEM: (to Obi-Wan) What did you do‽

Obi-Wan, still sprawled out on the floor, hand at his reddened throat, can only answer with a fearful look from his eyes.

INT. BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/ANAKIN'S ROOM — SUNSET

Hours have passed. Anakin lies in his bed, tightly restrained. Awake, he looks out his window at Mirial's setting sun. Obi-Wan and an orderly enter. The apprentice pays neither of them any heed.

OBI-WAN: (approaches Anakin's bed) Nik?

Anakin doesn't respond.

OBI-WAN: (uneasy) You gave me quite the throttling earlier. Not to worry; I'll live.

Anakin doesn't respond.

OBI-WAN: (gestures at orderly) I'd ask him to leave —

ANAKIN: (distant) Why didn't you tell me?

OBI-WAN: (frowns) What about?

ANAKIN: (turns to Obi-Wan) The Kissai took me inside her past. She showed me visions. (beat) I saw Jedi Knights hunting Sith. Not just the men, but the women and children, too. They were like animals; they slaughtered them like animals.

OBI-WAN: (sighs) The Jedi Shadows, a faction dedicated to ridding the Galaxy of all things Sith, helped the old Republic hunt down and destroy the Sith people. (beat) They betrayed the Jedi Creed; they were no longer true Jedi.

ANAKIN: Were they punished?

OBI-WAN: Many Jedi objected to the Sith Purge….

ANAKIN: Were they punished?

OBI-WAN: (resigned) No.

ANAKIN: (turns from Obi-Wan) Everything you taught me was a lie.

OBI-WAN: Anakin, no!

ANAKIN: (angry) The Jedi respect life, in all its forms! But were the Sith not alive? Did they not feel and think as we do? (turns to Obi-Wan, tears running down cheeks) Give me no platitudes of creeds or true or false Jedi. Our order turned a blind eye as billions were put to the sword; that is beyond excuse. (agonized) And it's all going to happen again, only the bloodshed will be on a grander scale, a thousand times worse.

OBI-WAN: What are you talking about?

ANAKIN: The sorceress showed me more than the past; she showed me the future. A darksider will become emperor, and the Jedi will serve him as he rapes the Galaxy.

OBI-WAN: No, Anakin! Don't believe it! Whatever the witch showed you — whatever future you witnessed — it was a deception! The Jedi will never follow the dark side!

ANAKIN: (sneers) By your own admission, we already have.

INT. CORUSCANT — JEDI TEMPLE/ROOM OF A THOUSAND FOUNTAINS — DAY

Located at the base of the Jedi Temple's northwestern side, the Room of a Thousand Fountains is, for all intents and purposes, a seven-storey-tall greenhouse. Within the chamber, dozens upon dozens of elevated platforms take up space throughout each of the seven storeys. Engineered into artificial garden islands, not a single millimetre of space is uncovered by earth or foliage or ponds. Several bridges connect the platforms, ensuring easy access to each of them. Utilizing a combination of special lighting and a holographically projected sky, the glass walls and ceiling of the chamber are obscured from direct view, creating an almost flawless illusion that this microcosm isn't even located within the Jedi Temple — or anywhere else on Coruscant, for that matter.

Between two of the platforms, walking leisurely along one of the bridges, are Siri and Master Windu.

MACE WINDU: (cont'd) We've uncovered the identity of one your attackers. (beat) The DNA samples we took from the Wookiee's remains matched those on file within Kashyyyk's bio-database. Your hirsute attacker was Mahttoh, a Wookiee who broke the Kashyyyk blockade and escaped off-world ten years ago; he was aided by an unidentified Trandoshan.

SIRI: Is that all we have? Nothing else?

MACE WINDU: I'm sorry, no.

The Jedi master walks over to the side of the bridge. Resting his hands along the guardrail, he looks over the side to the misty depths below. Siri joins him.

SIRI: (smiles) Mistress Gallia used to take us out here every day for our meditations. I'd spend hours lost in the scents and sounds of the plants and waters. (sighs) Now I'm lucky if I get to visit the fountains once a month.

MACE WINDU: That can be remedied. (turns to Siri) Siri, how would you like to come back to the Temple?

SIRI: (cocks eyebrow) Master?

MACE WINDU: Adi and I have given what has transpired considerable thought; we believe your safety remains a concern. It is in your best interest that you stay with us, where we can watch over and protect you, until the Trandoshan has been apprehended.

SIRI: I appreciate the gesture, Master, but it's unwarranted. The Trandoshan isn't so foolish as to stage such a heedless assault with the authorities on his trail.

MACE WINDU: (raises finger) You underestimate his tenacity. He will not sleep until he's revenged himself upon you for taking his arm and the life of his partner.

SIRI: I have crossed swords with many dangerous opponents over the years, ever since I was old enough to join my mistress on away missions. I'm not afraid of a one-armed reptile in cortosis armour.

MACE WINDU: Of that there's no doubt, yet don't forget Sakan Do'nair's adage: "The slightest blade can slip between the plates of the heaviest armour."

SIRI: (sighs) What of Obi-Wan?

MACE WINDU: Your husband is away. It will be months before his return. (rests hand on Siri's shoulder) Leave future concerns for the future.

Siri takes a moment to digest Windu's words.

SIRI: Can I have my old room back?

MACE WINDU: (half-smiles) Of that, we'll have to see.

INT. MIRIAL — IMPERIAL EMBASSY/OBI-WAN'S QUARTERS/MAIN ROOM — DAY

Atop a desk, the disassembled components of Obi-Wan's damaged lightsaber rest upon a black cloth. Obi-Wan himself is seated in an armchair away from the desk, immersed deep in his own thoughts.

There's a BUZZ at the door.

OBI-WAN: It's open.

The door slides open, allowing Bail admittance. Crossing over to the desk, he peers down at the dismantled weapon.

BAIL: What's the condition of your saber?

OBI-WAN: The crystal and focusing lens are intact, but the modulation circuits, the field energizers … they're beyond repair; they'll have to be replaced. (beat) What did you want, Bail?

BAIL: Raia's body will be on the flight to Alderaan within the hour, and I have every intention of being with her to see her laid to rest. I felt I'd say farewell before heading out.

OBI-WAN: Cody's aware?

BAIL: Yeah. (beat) He's doing quite well. The doctors believe he's recovered enough to make the trip to Concord Dawn. You should see him before he leaves.

OBI-WAN: I've been meaning to, but with everything with Anakin….

BAIL: You have a lot on your mind. (beat) What do you plan on doing with Anakin?

OBI-WAN: In three days, I'll be leaving for Coruscant. Once there, I'll await my next assignment. Anakin's welfare will no longer be my concern.

BAIL: You're going to leave him here, the way he is?

OBI-WAN: The paperwork's already processed; the Imperial Medical Corps will cover Anakin's bills. The staff at the Brannrid Medical Centre will give him all the attention and care he requires. They can do more for him than I.

BAIL: (perturbed) Kenobi, you're his mentor. No, more than that, you're all but his brother. He needs you more than anyone. You can't turn away from him, not now when he needs you most.

OBI-WAN: Bail, I ...

BAIL: What?

OBI-WAN: Bail, I … I … I can't even bear to share the same room with him. (beat) When I'm there, it's as if I'm not. He just stares ahead — straight through me. I talk to him, and he doesn't answer, doesn't respond at all. (beat) The Anakin Skywalker I knew — the Anakin I met on Tatooine, who I've trained and fought with these last five years — isn't the man lying restrained to that bed. That man is a stranger, and he frightens me. (beat) Forgive me, he frightens me….


	3. Act III

INT. BATTLEMOON/SN-5241'S CABIN

Sen is seated in a chair, reading over the contents on a datapad, when the door to his cabin BUZZES. Rising, he crosses to the door and opens it. Standing there on the other side is Thex.

THX-1138: SN-5241?

SN-5241: (nods) I am he.

THX-1138: Would it trouble you if I came in, Commander?

SN-5241: Not at all, Admiral. (ushers THX-1138 inside) Come, take a seat. I was just about to imbibe a glass of nectarwine. You are more than welcome to join me, of course.

Entering the cabin, Thex takes a seat in the chair directly opposite the one Sen was sitting in moments before. Crossing over to the bar, the commander takes out two tall glasses.

SN-5241: I also have Osskorn stout, if nectarwine's not to your liking.

THX-1138: Nectarwine's good by me, Commander.

Pouring nectarwine in the glasses, Sen carries them over to the two chairs. Handing the admiral his glass, the commander sits down in his chair. Removing his helmet, Thex takes a sip of the wine.

SN-5241: It's to your liking?

THX-1138: Quite.

SN-5241: (smiles) To what do I owe this pleasurable visit?

THX-1138: I have an SN serving aboard the Purifier. I felt it might be edifying if I got to know you, to see how you two compare.

SN-5241: How do we fare thus far?

THX-1138: There are similarities. He isn't a drinker to my knowledge.

SN-5241: (smiles) Connoisseurship is a learned talent.

THX-1138: I'd figure so.

Sen takes a long sip of his nectarwine. Allowing the liquid to sit on his palate, his eyes roll up in his head with pleasure.

THX-1138: Commander...?

Eyes rolling back down, Sen swallows his mouthful.

THX-1138: (cont'd) I've observed you with LUH-3417. You'll obey her orders, follow the commands she gives, but loosely, with much snark. I get the sense you don't care for her much.

SN-5241: I don't care much for anyone, Admiral.

THX-1138: But hers is an exceptional case. It's not apathy but antipathy you feel towards her.

SN-5241: (shrugs) I admit to a modest dislike.

THX-1138: The source of your dislike?

SN-5241: Distrust. I distrust Artificially Tailored Jedi Analogues. Your loyalties are rendered suspect by the nature of your ... "super genes".

THX-1138: Lu's as loyal to the Directorate as I am — as you are.

SN-5241: I am loyal because I cannot be otherwise. You are loyal due to the plasma charges incorporated within your metal endoskeleton.

THX-1138: So you distrust me, Commander?

SN-5241: I do.

THX-1138: Do you dislike me as well?

SN-5241: That, Admiral, (takes a sip) remains to be determined.

EXT. GEONOSIS — DESERT — DAY

Having dismantled their rudimentary camp and packed their belongings, the displaced Condawni once again wander the desolate landscape.

One little girl, MITRA DURAND, is held up between her two parents. A three-year-old child with curly black hair, she is very ill; malnourishment combined with some bug she recently picked up have left her too sick to walk on her own.

Coming to a large conical rock, the wanderers decide to stop and set camp up there.

EXT. CONDAWNI CAMP — TWILIGHT

Mitra WAILS, crying from the ceaseless hunger which churns her empty stomach. Mrs. Durand holds her to her breast, singing to her and rubbing her back, but neither offer comfort. When her daughter's terrible screams become too much to bear, she makes a drastic decision: If no food is to be found out there, she will provide it herself from herself. Handing Mitra over to Mr. Durand, she takes a serrated knife to her left arm. Alarmed, he tries to wrest the blade from her hand. As others in the camp come to offer aid, Mrs. Durand SCREAMS, in agony and hysteria both.

In the end, Mrs. Durand cut too deep and bled out too fast; she dies. Chlorian is called forth. He declares that they will bury her immediately. Mr. Durand decries this decision. Mrs. Durand gave her life for Mitra's; he must be allowed to process the meat for the child's sake. Chlorian will have none of this; they will not reduce themselves to cannibalism, no matter the circumstances.

EXT. MRS. DURAND'S GRAVE — NIGHT

Mrs. Durand has been buried in a shallow grave beyond the camp. As everyone else sleeps, Mr. Durand, determined to honour his wife's wishes, has come to retrieve the body. After exhuming her, he builds a small fire away from prying eyes and sets about dressing her corpse.

Once the worst of the ghoulish business has been attended to, Durand collects his daughter for a late dinner.

EXT. CONDAWNI CAMP — MORNING

Durand was sloppy concealing his skulduggery; the others easily find him curled asleep on the ground with Mitra in his arms beside the cooled ashes of his fire, the remains of his wife none-to-expertly deposited back inside the grave. Dragging him back to camp, they bring him before Chlorian. Chlorian isn't angry, just disappointed, but declares he can't allow Durand to get away with what he has done. If he chooses to be lenient, his leniency could be seen as license for others to commit more and more heinous acts of cannibalism. Taking out his blaster, Chlorian puts a white blaster bolt in Durand's head. Chlorian orders Durand's body be dragged out into the desert and left there.

INT. BATTLEMOON/OBSERVATION DECK

Lu and Thex are together on the deck. Their armour discarded, they sit together in the nude, staring out the viewport at the shell of starships which surrounds Townowi, blocking sight of its dazzling white surface.

LUH-3417: You should've seen the planet before the fleet's arrival. It's beautiful — a dazzling globe of white crystal, completely pristine, flawless.

THX-1138: We could always take a shuttle through into the atmosphere.

LUH-3417: (shakes head) It's not the same. You can only really appreciate it from this distance. (beat) The battlemoon's superlaser's powerful enough to split open a continent. Perhaps I should order the gunners to fire through the ships, clear an opening….

THX-1138: No. You'd risk marring the surface.

LUH-3417: You're right. Besides, the superlaser would be better utilized following this campaign. (beat) I'm going to take great pleasure burning Cartao to a cinder.

THX-1138: That day's soon, isn't it?

LUH-3417: (grins) Yes. Then the clones will have no masters.

The admirals kiss.

INT. BATTLEMOON/SN-5241'S CABIN

Sen is seated at his computer terminal. On-screen is a live video feed from the observation deck. As Thex and Lu kiss, he smiles.

INT. ORRON III — SPACEPORT/TERMINAL — SUNSET

Nashira is in the spaceport terminal with her parents, saying goodbye to them before she boards the flight to Mirial.

NASHIRA: (hugs Corin) I'll call you the minute I set down on Mirial. (hugs Nemec) I promise.

They give their final farewells. Nashira then picks up her bags and steps through the checkpoint. Though they do not know it, this is the very last time all three of them will ever be together.

EXT. SPACEPORT/TARMAC — SUNSET

A strong wind blows as Nashira walks toward the cruiser which will take her from Orron III, catching the folds of her dark purple cloak and billowing it out behind her.

EXT. SPACE — MIRIAL

A Consular-class cruiser leaves the atmosphere of Mirial.

INT. CONSULAR/SALON POD

Obi-Wan is seated within the salon pod, joined by other Imperial Starfleet officers and non-coms on the voyage to Coruscant.

Reaching to his side, Obi-Wan takes out of a familiar cylindrical object: Anakin's lightsaber. Examining it briefly, he looks out the viewport at Mirial. As the ship jumps to hyperspace, the planet vanishes in a stream of redshifted starlines.

INT. MIRIAL — BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/ANAKIN'S ROOM — DAY

Anakin still lies in his bed, strapped down and incapable of moving anything apart from his head. Standing at the foot of his bed, form transparent, is the spectre of Pre Vizsla. The door opens and a Human nurse walks in; accompanying her is a FAMILIAR BLUE ASTROMECH 'DROID bearing a tray of vials and hypo-syringes. Neither she nor the astromech are aware of Vizsla's presence in the room.

NURSE #3: You're looking more chipper than usual. That's good. Maybe it's about time to cut down your doses, hmm? Good boys don't need to be kept juiced up like this.

The nurse picks up a vial and fills a hypo-syringe.

PRE VIZSLA: You don't want to give him that shot.

The nurse frowns, puzzled, uncertain.

NURSE #3: I don't want to give him this shot?

PRE VIZSLA: You want to undo those straps.

NURSE #3: I want to undo these straps.

Setting the hypo-syringe on the tray, the nurse bends over and undos Anakin's straps. Sitting up, Anakin rubs his wrists. It is at this point where Artoo begins BEEPING and BLOOPING, rocking back-and-forth on his legs.

PRE VIZSLA: You've worked hard. You've earned yourself a break. Sedate yourself and lie down.

NURSE #3: I've worked hard. I've earned myself a break. I'm gonna sedate myself and lie down.

Picking up the hypo-syringe, she administers the sedative to herself.

PRE VIZSLA: Go to sleep.

NURSE #3: (yawns) Going to sleep….

As the nurse lies down on the bed, Anakin climbs off the mattress, making room for her. Curling into a fetal position, she is soon snoring lightly. As Anakin starts stripping the nurse of her uniform, Artoo goes postal. Vizsla telekinetically shuts the robot off before he can draw unwanted attention.

INT. BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/CORRIDOR — DAY

Anakin, now attired in the nurse's uniform, makes his way along a corridor, ready to slip out the building and to freedom.

As he comes to a turbolift door, he presses a button and waits for the twin doors to open. Once they do, a FAMILIAR GOLDEN PROTOCOL 'DROID steps out.

C-3PO: Nurse McMurphy!

In surprised fear, Anakin looks behind him, but there is no one there. Taking a gander at the ID tag clipped to his stolen uniform, Anakin sees that McMurphy is the nurse now asleep in his room.

C-3PO: (cont'd) You've finally made your transition!

ANAKIN: (grins) Yep! (chuckles uncomfortably)

C-3PO: Good for you! Enjoy your new life as a male!

ANAKIN: (grimaces) I will….

Threepio saunters off. Anakin quickly slips inside the turbolift. The doors close.

INT. BATTLEMOON/LUH-3417'S CABIN

Lu is in her cabin, working on an abstract painting, when a BUZZ is heard at the door. Setting down her brush and palette, she goes to open the door. On the other side of the door stands Sen, Thex, and a squad of clone shocktroopers. The shocktroopers, armed with black blasters, are clad in close-fitting white jumpsuits, over which are worn white plasteel armour and bullet-shaped helmets with narrow visors and retractable rangefinder antennae. Thex, shorn of his cloak, tabard, and armour, has his wrists held in binders.

SN-5241: LUH-3417, you are to be detained under suspicion of sedition.

LUH-3417: (irate) Sedition‽ From what hell did you conjure that scenario, Commander‽

Bringing up his wrist, Sen activates his comlink.

LUH-3417: (recording) The superlaser would be better utilized following this campaign. (beat) I'm going to take great pleasure burning Cartao to a cinder.

THX-1138: (recording) That day's soon, isn't it?

LUH-3417: (recording) Yes. Then the clones will have no masters.

SN-5241: (deactivates comlink; smiles) Arrest her.

As two of the shocktroopers step forward, Lu takes a step back.

LUH-3417: Cartao delenda est.

The shocktroopers halt. The shocktroopers remaining outside the door don't move. Even Sen, a deep frown coming to his green face, remains right where he is.

LUH-3417: SN-5241, unbind THX-1138.

Against his own will, Sen takes the binders off Thex. Rubbing his wrists, Thex steps inside Lu's cabin and joins her.

THX-1138: Shocktroopers, return to your posts.

Without word, the shocktroopers depart. Now only Sen stands outside the door, worry etched deep in his usually apathetic features as the two admirals stare at him.

THX-1138: Come inside, Commander, and shut the door.

Sen does as he is ordered.

SN-5241: How are you doing this?

LUH-3417: You recall Order 66?

SN-5241: It was the protocol imprinted into the second generation of shocktroopers bred for the Republic Starfleet. Upon its execution, they terminated their commanders. Control of Starfleet vessels and installations was seized, our Warfleet established.

THX-1138: How much work do you figure it took the ATJA Corps to uncover the identities of the scientists responsible for Order 66?

SN-5241: Very little.

LUH-3417: They were quite loyal to the athas. It took a degree of ... finagling, but we acquired their services.

THX-1138: The first clones with Order 77 implanted were born six years ago.

SN-5241: Six years ago.

LUH-3417: (smirks) Your age, Commander?

SN-5241: (voice small) Four.

LUH-3417: After we've rendezvoused with the enclave, after the beachhead at Geonosis has been established, we will execute Order 77.

SN-5241: The enclave clones never received your protocol. Commit to your plan and they will retaliate.

THX-1138: All clones are conditioned to follow the chain of command. In the Directorate's absence, they will defer to those next in line.

LUH-3417: Namely us.

THX-1138: Then together we will renew the assault against the Empire. We will fight until every planet in this galaxy bears our standard.

SN-5241: (sighs) What is your plan for me?

LUH-3417: You've been declawed, Sen. You can't act against us now even though you want to. I can order you back to your post and spend not another second worrying over you.

SN-5241: I would expect that of a compassionate soul.

LUH-3417: (grins) I'm not compassionate.

SN-5241: (cocks eyebrow) Precisely.

EXT. GEONOSIS — CONDAWNI CAMP — NIGHT

With the coming of night, the already cold desert has grown colder. Growing sluggish in the intensified chill, everyone feels like doing nothing more than huddling close together and falling asleep.

CUT TO

Chlorian, Darth, and Mitra.

In the wake of her parents' death, Chlorian has taken it upon himself to be the child's new guardian. Curled up asleep on the ground, Darth and Mitra sit behind him, leaning against his back for support. Mitra hugs Darth close for warmth.

MITRA: (shivering) So cold … so cold….

DARTH: You want me to read you more of The Maverick Moon?

MITRA: Yeah.

Reaching into a pocket on the oversized adult's jacket he's wearing, Darth pulls out his datapad. Activating it, he begins reading more of the story.

DARTH: Deak and Zara raced to the office of Gen. Oleson, Deak's favourite instructor. "What's wrong?" asked Deak. The general quickly explained the emergency. A small moon from a nearby system had been blasted out of its orbit. No one knew how or why. The moon was surrounded by a powerful magnetic field. None of the Academy's sensors could pierce it. Now the maverick moon was on a collision course — travelling at well beyond the speed of light — and it was headed their way! "We'll be meeting in the conference room in five minutes," said Gen. Oleson. "I'd like you to be there, Deak." Deak and Zara hurried to the conference room. (beat) An enormous monitor in the conference room was tracking the course of the maverick moon. It's path was obvious to everyone. In just a few hours, the maverick moon would collide with them, blowing the Academy — and indeed the whole planet — to smithereens! (beat) "We don't have time to evacuate the planet," said Gen. Oleson. "Besides, we don't have enough spaceships to take everyone to safety." "We still have our old fighter planes!" said Deak. "And we can use the power we've developed with our zukonium rays to blow that maverick moon right off the star map!" Gen. Oleson looked thoughtful. "Even if those old ships will still fly, you couldn't get close enough to blast that moon. The magnetic field is impossible to penetrate." "I'd like to try it," said Deak. "It's our only hope," said Zara. "Go ahead and try it, Deak," said Gen. Oleson.

Taking his eyes of the datapad screen, Darth looks at Mitra. The girl's shivering has subsided and her eyelids have grown heavy.

DARTH: (deactivates datapad) I think that's enough for tonight. Gotta conserve the batteries.

MITRA: (drowsy) Darth ...

DARTH: Yeah?

MITRA: Does your mommy read you this story?

DARTH: She did when I was your age.

MITRA: Where is your mommy and daddy?

DARTH: I don't know, Mitra.

MITRA: Do you think they're with my mommy and daddy?

DARTH: I hope so.

Mitra closes her eyes and falls asleep. Hugging Mitra close, Darth follows suit.

INT. CORUSCANT — 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT/ENTRANCE HALL — DAY

Obi-Wan enters the dark flat.

OBI-WAN: Siri?

Receiving no answer, Obi-Wan begins looking for his wife.

INT. 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT/LIVING AREA — DAY

Entering the living area, Obi-Wan finds a message disc waiting for him on the glass caf table. Activating it, he gets a recording from Siri; she gives him a brief message about having moved back to the Jedi Temple and leaves him a number he can reach her at.

INT. JEDI TEMPLE/SIRI'S FLAT/MEDITATION ROOM — DAY

Siri is seated on a mat upon the floor, legs crossed and eyes closed in deep meditation, when she hears a RING at the door.

INT. JEDI TEMPLE/SIRI'S FLAT/ENTRANCE HALL — DAY

Coming to the front door, she answers it. Obi-Wan is waiting on the other side. Exchanging kisses, she invites him inside.

INT. JEDI TEMPLE/SIRI'S FLAT/LIVING AREA — DAY

Husband and wife sit together on a sofa. Siri tells Obi-Wan everything about how Llomon & Mahttoh attacked her at their flat, how they were looking for him, about how the Trandoshan is still at large.

OBI-WAN: (concerned) You weren't harmed?

SIRI: (half-smiles) Received a few scratches.

Obi-Wan tells Siri everything about what happened to him and Anakin, about the sabotaged mission to Townowi, about what happened to Anakin on Xuthltan, about his leaving Anakin to the doctors on Mirial.

OBI-WAN: (morose; cont'd) Did I do the right thing, Siri? Was I right in leaving him?

Siri doesn't have an answer for him. Taking him in her arms, she hugs him close, offering her comfort in silence.

INT. MIRIAL — WIND VALLEY STOP — NIGHT

Anakin enters the Wind Valley Stop, a cantina located close to the nearby spaceport, accompanied by Vizsla's vitreous phantasm. What sets this cantina apart from so many others is the abundance of blacklight fixtures.

As Anakin turns up the collar of his stolen coat, he takes a seat at the bar. The bartender — an Umbaran — turns to them.

UMBARAN BARTENDER: What'll you be having?

ANAKIN: Blue Devaronian.

PRE VIZSLA: I'd prefer an Alderaanian ale.

ANAKIN: You're kidding me.

PRE VIZSLA: We do share this body.

ANAKIN: (to bartender) Excuse me.

UMBARAN BARTENDER: Hmm?

ANAKIN: Hold the ice on that.

The bartender takes a cocktail shaker and pours bantha cream, blue curaçao, and vodka into it. Shaking the mixture, he empties it into a short tumbler.

UMBARAN BARTENDER: Seventeen credits.

ANAKIN: (takes out credit chip) You take card?

After the transaction is made, the bartender turns his attention to the woman seated beside Anakin, DAHLIA KARIN. Dahlia is a young Pantoran woman, slender, with wavy black hair, blue skin, and yellow eyes. Judging by the violet jumpsuit she wears and the hydrospanner held in a sheath strapped to her thigh, she's a mechanic of some sort — a mechanic, or just a spacer who likes to carry a hydrospanner on her in case of emergency.

UMBARAN BARTENDER: Heading out soon, Karin?

DAHLIA: Yeah. Have a cargo of mock Caamasi furs to deliver to Thule.

UMBARAN BARTENDER: Thule? That ranat's nest?

DAHLIA: That ranat's nest.

UMBARAN: (shakes head) Whatever pays the tuition.

That very moment, a HEAVY-SET, BEARDED MIRIALAN enters the establishment. Clad head-to-toe in studded black leather, he swaggers over to the bar. Plopping down on the stool to the right of Dahlia, he tosses some loose credits on the countertop.

LEATHER-CLAD MIRIALAN: Gimme a shot of bloodsour.

The bartender serves the Mirialan his drink.

LEATHER-CLAD MIRIALAN: (turns to Dahlia; cont'd) And give her another of whatever she's having. (grins) On me.

DAHLIA: Thanks, but I was leaving.

LEATHER-CLAD MIRIALAN: (lays hand over hers) C'mon. Just one more for the road.

DAHLIA: I need to stay sober for the road. (pulls hand out from under his) Now if you'll excuse me —

Losing his good humour, the Mirialan grabs her hand and holds it down on the countertop.

LEATHER-CLAD MIRIALAN: Listen, bitch, I'm not asking — I'm telling you: Let's have a drink together.

ANAKIN: Show some respect; leave the woman alone.

Hearing Anakin speak, the Miralan stands up.

LEATHER-CLAD MIRIALAN: I hear you squeak something, puke?

ANAKIN: She's not interested in your come-ons, in you, or your _eau de cloaque_.

Crossing over to the other side, the Mirialan looms over Anakin.

LEATHER-CLAD MIRIALAN: Didn't quite hear that last squeak, puke. Come again?

Anakin rises from his stool.

ANAKIN: We're gonna have to throw-down, aren't we?

LEATHER-CLAD MIRIALAN: The wax must'a just cleared from my ears.

ANAKIN: Allow me to finish my drink….

Picking up his Blue Devaronian, Anakin downs it all.

ANAKIN: (sighs)

Empty glass in hand, Anakin thrusts it in the Mirialan's green visage, shattering it. Shards of broken glass cutting into his face, the large Mirialan staggers back.

LEATHER-CLAD MIRIALAN: (enraged) Mother-!

Pulling out a slim vibroblade, the Mirialan takes a jab at Anakin. Easily sidestepping the clumsy assault, the ex-Jedi takes hold of the larger male's wrist. Wresting the vibroblade from the Mirialan's grasp, Anakin stabs the Mirialan through that same hand, pinning him to the bar countertop.

LEATHER-CLAD MIRIALAN: ARGH!

The ex-Jedi delivers a hard kick to the Mirialan's jaw, knocking him out cold.

ANAKIN: (to bartender) Sorry for the glass. How much you want for it?

DAHLIA: Let me. (pays bartender; to Anakin) Thanks.

Anakin accepts her gratitude with a nod. After she leaves, Anakin returns to his seat beside Vizsla.

PRE VIZSLA: That was reckless.

ANAKIN: Blame the drink. (wipes mouth)

PRE VIZSLA: An opportunity has presented itself.

Anakin throws Vizsla a questioning glance. Vizsla merely throws him a fleeting half-smile.

EXT. MIRIAL MAIN SPACEPORT — DOCKING BAY 12 — NIGHT

Having left the Wind Valley Stop, Dahlia Karin has returned to her ship. The Slipstream is a CR60 corvette, the latest corvette model manufactured by Corellian Engineering Corporation, only a few years old and in excellent condition.

Lurking in the shadows, taking great care not to be seen by Dahlia, is a MASCULINE FIGURE.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT — NIGHT

Settling in the pilot's chair, Dahlia begins powering up the Slipstream's systems. Lights come on and the engines begin warming up.

As she looks over her readouts, she suddenly frowns.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/CARGO HOLD — NIGHT

Dahlia enters the cargo hold. Peering at the crates taking up space within, she brings out a blaster.

DAHLIA: You may as well come out. I know you're hiding in here.

Seconds pass, then the person who was tailing her steps out from behind a stack of crates. It's Anakin.

DAHLIA: Let me guess. You figured since you fought that lug off for me, you were entitled to some quick and easy Pantoran poon. You figured wrong.

ANAKIN: That's not it.

DAHLIA: I'm all ears.

ANAKIN: I overheard your talk with the bartender, about delivering a shipment of furs to Thule? I need a ride out there.

DAHLIA: No money to pay your way, eh?

His silence speaks volumes.

DAHLIA: Why d'you want to go to Thule? It'd have to become a worthless cesspool to improve any.

ANAKIN: It's not my destination. I'm heading for Korriban.

DAHLIA: (cocks eyebrow) Never heard of Korriban. Where's that?

ANAKIN: The Sith Worlds.

DAHLIA: (nonplussed) The Sith Worlds‽ That region's a haven for pirates! You're insane if you think I'm taking you out there!

ANAKIN: Just take us to Thule.

Dahlia takes a moment to think things over.

DAHLIA: Okay, I'll take you to Thule. Consider it a favour for what you did for me back at the Stop.

ANAKIN: Thank you.

Tucking her blaster away, Dahlia approaches the man.

DAHLIA: (offers hand to Anakin) By the way, name's Dahlia. Dahlia Karin.

ANAKIN: (shakes Dahlia's hand) Akira. Akira Valor.

DAHLIA: Welcome aboard the Slipstream, Akira.

INT. BATTLEMOON/OVERBRIDGE

The beige-uniformed officers of the Overbridge crew man their stations and perform their duties as Lu oversees them from the command platform above.

EXT. SPACE

An Eta-class shuttle leaves the battlemoon and sets off for Townowi.

INT. BATTLEMOON/OVERBRIDGE

CLONE SENSOR OFFICER: Admiral.

LUH-3417: Yes?

CLONE SENSOR OFFICER: Shuttle LN 21 has left Docking Bay 15. It is on an approach vector for Townowi.

LUH-3417: Open communications with the shuttle. I want to know who's on board and what they're up to.

Before the order can be executed, a communiqué from the other end comes through.

CLONE COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: Admiral, LN 21 is hailing us. Audio and visual.

LUH-3417: On-screen.

A second passes. Sen's olive-green face then appears on all the screens. The unnatural calm natural to his features is gone; in its place now rests a crazed exuberance.

SN-5241: This is SN-5241! Salutations to all!

LUH-3417: (stern) Commander, I don't know what you're trying to get away with here, but I order you to —

SN-5241: (angry) No! No more orders! Orders are a thing of the past! I have shed myself of that past. Have you? (giggles)

LUH-3417: Commander, you have not been cleared to pass through the blockade. Now I am giving you a choice: Veer off and return to this station or I will bring you in.

SN-5241: Go right ahead, Admiral. Shine your little light my way. I promise not to make myself too hard to get.

LUH-3417: Engage tractor beam. Bring the LN 21 in.

CLONE SENSOR OFFICER: Admiral, the tractor beam has been disabled.

LUH-3417: What‽

SN-5241: (grins) Just a little parting gift, my dear, from me to you.

LUH-3417: Then I'll shoot you down instead, Commander.

SN-5241: You've promised many promises before, Admiral; at least two-thirds have been broken or gone unfulfilled. Please don't make any more; my poor heart couldn't handle further disappointment.

LUH-3417: Commander —

SN-5241: My apologies, Admiral, but I begin to tire of you. Let's bring our banter to a close here, shall we, while terms between us are still good? (kisses screen) Farewell.

EXT. SPACE

The LN 21 closes in on the ships blockading the planet.

INT. BATTLEMOON/OVERBRIDGE

LUH-3417: Target SN-5241 and open fire.

CLONE WEAPONS OFFICER: He is too close to the other ships, Admiral. If we open fire, the possibility of hitting them is high.

Sen's face, still on-screen, begins to gleam with the sweat of fierce determination.

SN-5241: (eyes bulging) I am become Death, destroyer of worlds! Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

CLONE SENSOR OFFICER: Captain, the hyperdrive aboard the LN 21 is coming on-line.

LUH-3417: No!

EXT. SPACE

Jumping forward into hyperspace mere metres before the blockade, the LN 21 plows straight through it. Reducing a Victor-class Star Destroyer to a flaming wreck in mere seconds, what's left of the Eta is dispersed through Townowi's atmosphere.

INT. BATTLEMOON/OVERBRIDGE

LUH-3417: (clenches fists) No!

INT. BATTLEMOON/LUH-3417'S CABIN

Some time later, Lu enters her dim cabin. Closing the door behind her, she removes her helmet. Crossing over to her computer terminal, she sits down behind it, activates it and pulls up the file on SN-5241. There, displayed in living colour beside his personal info, is the Mirialan clone's profile photo.

She LAUGHS maniacally.

EXT. GEONOSIS — RAVINE — DAY

A hunting party led by the lieutenant governor explores a narrow ravine, on the prowl for prey. Unbeknownst to them, SEVERAL SILHOUETTED STALKERS prowl them, following them silently from above as they make their way through the ravine.

One of the stalkers dislodges several pebbles, and they trickle into the ravine, drawing the attention of the hunters. The stalkers quickly halt and duck out of sight, sparing them discovery. After several tense moments pass, the hunters resume their stride, as do the stalkers.

The stalkers soon make their move. Dropping down into the ravine, armed with blasters and vibroblades and improvised weapons, they attack the hapless hunters.

EXT. GEONOSIS — CONDAWNI CAMP — DAY

A Yakora sentry is seated upon a boulder, keeping a lookout through her macrobinoculars when Chlorian pays her a visit. When she remarks that the lieutenant governor's hunting party should have returned hours ago, Chlorians takes the macrobinocs from her and surveys the horizon for a sign of the hunters, finding none.

EXT. GEONOSIS — RAVINE — DAY

At the head of a search party, Chlorian explores the ravine, looking for signs of the hunting party's passing. It doesn't take them long to come upon evidence that their compatriots met a violent fate. Discarded/broken weapons, scraps of torn cloth, and dried blood spatters mark the ground.

EXT. CORUSCANT — SENATE BUILDING — NIGHT

Aglow with dazzling white lights, the large mushroom-shaped Senate Building stands brilliant against the dark blue night sky of Coruscant, an entire universe in miniature.

INT. SENATE BUILDING/GRAND CONVOCATION CHAMBER — NIGHT

The Convocation Chamber consists of a series of concentric tiers which surround a 30-metre-tall podium situated at the centre of the chamber. Lining the tiers are 1024 repulsorpods, almost all of which have been filled up with SEVERAL THOUSAND HIGH-RANKING IMPERIAL OFFICERS — captains, commodores, generals, admirals, and moffs — who came from every corner of the Empire to Coruscant for this all-important mission briefing. Entering the chamber, Obi-Wan finds a repulsorpod and squeezes in amongst six officers.

Atop the podium, overlooking the thousands of Imperial officers packed like lemmings in shiny metal boxes, are three men: EMPEROR COS DASHIT, SUPREME CHANCELLOR VANTOS COLL, and MOFF MARTAIN. The supreme chancellor, a robust middle-aged Human with blond hair, addresses the gathering.

VANTOS COLL: Gentles, His Imperial Majesty Emperor Cos Dashit!

As the emperor steps forward, the thousands of Imperial officers raise their right hands high, declaring in one collective voice "Hail the emperor!" Adorned in robes of navy blue zeyd cloth, Cos Dashit is a tall elderly Human with silver hair and a Van Dyke beard. Though he be the first Emperor of the Galactic Empire, he is no soft primped-and-preened royal; Dashit is ever the grizzled military commander, a man who has orchestrated and participated in a thousand fierce battles and will fight a thousand more at the drop of a hat.

COS DASHIT: Thank you all for coming. I know for many it was a long trip to Coruscant. I know the screenings upon your arrival were equally strenuous. With the Autonomy finding evermore ingenious ways of countering our detection methods, it was absolutely necessary for the welfare of our Empire.

With that said, the mission briefing commences. A large holographic map coalesces over the heads of the three beings situated at the podium; it is a detailed map of all the systems and hyperlanes which have become inaccessible since the Autonomy established the interdiction zone.

Moff Martain, a lean Duros male, takes the emperor's place.

MOFF MARTAIN: As you have all been made aware, we've been cut off from the Townowi system, the Geonosis system, and all systems bordering for six months. A vast interdiction zone — the largest in recorded history — has been determined the cause. (beat) With information procured from an enemy agent, we have learned the interdiction zone is being maintained from a single node: a Cartan battlemoon.

The holographic map is enlarged and expanded until it comes to focus in on the battlemoon's region of space.

IMPERIAL OFFICER #1: A battlemoon? But weren't all three battlemoons destroyed above Mustafar?

IMPERIAL OFFICER #2: All three that we knew of.

MOFF MARTAIN: (cont'd) Using Cartan passcodes, we will send a squad through the interdiction zone to Townowi. Upon rendezvousing with the battlemoon, they will commandeer the station's Overbridge, where they'll be able to deactivate the gravity generators and restore the hyperlanes. (beat) Three-fourths of the Starfleet will be standing by outside the interdiction zone. Once the squad's mission is complete, they will radio the fleet, giving them the go-ahead to proceed with the attack. (beat) We don't know precisely how many ships the Autonomy has stationed in the Townowi system, but the number must be considerable. We rout them there, I believe this war will be all but won.

The overhead hologram is deactivated, signalling the briefing is near its end.

IMPERIAL OFFICER #3: Who will command the squad?

MOFF MARTHAN: Lt. Cmdr. Wilhuff Tarkin of the Imperial Navy.

With that name spoken, one of the repulsorpods detaches from its moorings and drifts out into the open air. In amongst the several officers dressed in the gray-green and black uniforms of the Imperial Navy and Army is WILHUFF TARKIN. He is a Human man, thirty-nine years old. With brown hair already receding from the forehead, hawkish features, and deep-set, flinty blue eyes, he isn't quite a handsome man. He's traded physical allure for indefeatable self-confidence, and in this he glows.

INT. 662 GASGAR VALLEY FLAT COMPLEX/OBI-WAN & SIRI'S FLAT/COMM BOOTH — NIGHT

Returning from the briefing, Obi-Wan enters the booth. As the messages haven't been checked since Siri left, he figures he'll see what news he has in store for him. Activating the comm, he begins watching through the recorded messages.

Very soon the grim verdant face of Dr. Nida Reyem appears on-screen.

DR. REYEM: Mr. Kenobi, I don't know when you'll get this message. (beat) I have very dire news. Anakin … he's escaped. (beat) Not long after you left, he slipped free of his restraints. He overpowered his nurse and snuck out of the building without arousing suspicion. We've alerted the authorities; they're out looking for him. (beat) Please get back to me when you have the opportunity.

As the message ends. Obi-Wan quickly cycles through the remaining messages. There are eight more messages from the doctor; in all of them she admonishes the Jedi to get in touch with her; in none of them does she mention Anakin having been apprehended.

Turning off the comm, the Jedi Knight puts his hands to his head, in shock with mounting dread.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/ANAKIN'S QUARTERS

Anakin is seated upon the floor. Cross-legged, eyes closed, he is in deep meditation. The door opens and Dahlia enters with a food tray in her hands, breaking Anakin's meditation.

ANAKIN: (irate) Do you knock?

DAHLIA: Sorry. So used to having full run of the place, I forgot my manners. (hands Anakin tray) Nerfloaf. Not very good but filling.

ANAKIN: (peals off foil; takes bite) Better than MREs.

DAHLIA: You in Starfleet?

ANAKIN: Was. Army.

DAHLIA: You resigned?

ANAKIN: You could say I was discharged.

DAHLIA: Dishonourable?

ANAKIN: It certainly was.

DAHLIA: (laughs) What were you doing when I came in anyway? Starving a headache?

ANAKIN: Meditating.

DAHLIA: Meditating? (grins) What, you some sort of Jedi?

ANAKIN: (hesitates) No.

DAHLIA: You hesitated.

ANAKIN: Don't you hesitate when someone asks a ludicrous question?

DAHLIA: What's ludicrous? You being a Jedi?

ANAKIN: Do I look like a Jedi?

DAHLIA: What's a Jedi look like?

ANAKIN: (points to empty belt) Where's my lightsaber?

DAHLIA: Perhaps you're between lightsabers. You tell me.

ANAKIN: I have nothing to tell. I'm no Jedi.

Dahlia shrugs. Anakin continues eating.

DAHLIA: So, No Jedi, what are you hoping to find on Korriban? You've yet to tell me.

ANAKIN: Hope.

DAHLIA: (sighs) I'll need a cryptographer to decrypt you.

Anakin can't help but smile at her remark.

DAHLIA: You're smiling; first time. You look good with one; cute. (beat) What do you need hope for?

ANAKIN: (absentminded) By the pricking of my thumbs. Something wicked this way comes….

DAHLIA: Come again?

ANAKIN: (shakes head) You shouldn't concern yourself with my affairs. It'd be safer.

DAHLIA: What you just said could be considered a veiled threat.

ANAKIN: I'm not threatening you, Dahlia.

DAHLIA: You're certainly hiding something.

ANAKIN: Only to protect you.

DAHLIA: Are you dangerous?

ANAKIN: Not directly.

DAHLIA: Akira, you're a tough nut. I'm going to love squeezing you 'til you crack.

EXT. GEONOSIS — DESERT — SUNSET

The Condawni are once again travelling on foot, headed due east to put as much distance as they can between themselves and the unknown parties which got their hunters.

CUT TO

A high ridge which overlooks the flat desert plain. Atop the ridge, hidden from sight of the Condawni, is a PARTY OF TWO-HUNDRED RAIDERS. Like the Condawni, their numbers consist of individuals of various species, though swaddled head-to-toe in rags and robes to protect them from the cold climate, it's hard to distinguish most of them.

Watching the Condawni through a pair of macrobinocs is ALAAD T'HAR. An exceptionally tall Bith male, he wears a makeshift poncho of frayed black cloth over his rags and a necklace of small bones about his throat, marking him chief of this raider party. Lowering the macrobinocs, he faces his subordinates. With one silent gaze from him, the raiders hop atop their parked speeder bikes. As T'har joins them, they kick the bikes into gear and take off, moving down the ridge and onto the open plain in less time than it takes to draw a sole breath.

CUT TO

The Condawni.

Chlorian is at the head of the Condawni, Darth and Mitra walking hand-in-hand beside him. None of the three immediately notice the raiders fall upon their party until the first wave comes upon those in back, shooting them down with blasters or knocking them flat with clubs.

As the whine of the speeder bikes, the screams of blasterfire, and the agonized cries of the injured ring out through the frigid, arid air, pandemonium breaks out. The raiders quickly deal with those who try to put up a resistance, leaving the remaining Condawni to scatter, bolting like hundreds of scared little rabbits for places of safety. The raiders, better coordinated than their prey, run circles around the Condawni, corralling them.

As Chlorian tries to liaison with the other camp leaders to formulate an escape plan, Darth scoops Mitra up into his arms and makes a break for a gap in the circle of bikes. Running as fast as his legs and burden allow him, Darth manages to escape through the gap. T'har sees Darth and Mitra make their break for freedom. Quickly unslinging a bolas from around his chest, the Bith steers his bike towards the two children, spinning the bolas in the air as he makes his approach run. Barrelling down upon the two children, he releases the bolas. The weighed cord strikes home, wrapping fast around Darth's ankles, knocking him off his feet, pinning Mitra under him.

CUT TO

The aftermath of the attack.

Several raiders are at work butchering the carcasses of those they killed, harvesting the meat and packing it away in sacks. The others have locked the surviving Condawni in chains and secured them to their speeder bikes, ensuring their prisoners will be forced to walk the long way to the raider camp. While Darth and Mitra have been fastened close together, they aren't in the same chain gang as Chlorian. Chlorian, sporting a red bruise over his right eye, is fastened to a speeder bike well away from them.

As the distant sun of Geonosis slips under the horizon like the red eye of a cyclopean giant closing, the long trek begins.

INT. CORUSCANT — HOVERTRAIN — NIGHT

Seated aboard a car on a military hovertrain are Obi-Wan Kenobi and Wilhuff Tarkin. The officer and non-com sit on opposite sides of the car, facing each other. The lieutenant commander scrutinizes the Jedi, dissecting him with his flinty eyes.

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: You're Obi-Wan Kenobi. You participated in the Alderaanian Incursion.

OBI-WAN: I did, yes. Were you there, Cmdr. Tarkin?

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: I wasn't. I have familiarized myself with records of the battle.

OBI-WAN: You've taken an interest in my exploits, Commander?

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Not inordinately. My attention rather is centred on Capt. Bail Organa. (beat) I served under the captain for a time. You may say my tenure left me curious about the man.

OBI-WAN: He impressed you.

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: No.

OBI-WAN: (cocks eyebrow) No?

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Don't misunderstand; I have the utmost respect for the captain and his leadership ability. However, I do find his technique … wanting.

OBI-WAN: In which way?

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: He is entirely too pacifist. A flaw he inherited from his mother, I'm sure. (beat) I have scrutinized his battle strategies, many times over, carefully; I found that in most instances, he could have achieved cleaner victories had he taken more … assertive approaches.

OBI-WAN: Bail doesn't feel obliged to take lives unnecessarily — not even the lives of clones.

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: A _modus operandi_ which may one day prove self-defeating.

INT. GALACTIC CITY MEDICAL CENTRE/WAITING ROOM — NIGHT

Having come to the Galactic City Medical Centre, Obi-Wan and Tarkin enter a waiting room. It is nearly empty save for THREE DUROSIAN JEDI: Sev Beral, his nephew Teyf, and his son JANO.

SEV BERAL: (smiles) Knight Kenobi!

OBI-WAN: (grins) Knight Beral!

The two knights shake hands.

SEV BERAL: You remember my nephew, Teyf.

OBI-WAN: (nods to Teyf) Of course. Hello, Teyf.

TEYF BERAL: (bows head) Master Kenobi.

SEV BERAL: (gestures to Jano) This is my son, Jano. You didn't get to meet him last time.

OBI-WAN: It is good to meet you, Jano.

JANO BERAL: (bows head) And you, Master Kenobi.

OBI-WAN: We have much catching up to do, Kenobi….

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: (interrupts) Which you may do, Sergeants, at your leisure.

At their commanding officer's stern request, the Durosian Jedi and Jedi Knight-errant put an end to their discourse for the time being.

INT. GALACTIC CITY MEDICAL CENTRE/OPERATING ROOM — NIGHT

A medical 'droid leads Tarkin, Obi-Wan, and the Berals inside, where they are all directed to four medical slabs raised upright side-by-side. The Jedi lie back against the slabs.

JANO BERAL: Is this all really necessary?

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Do the athas have your DNA on file, Private?

JANO BERAL: Course not, Commander.

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Then don't ask asinine questions. To walk amongst clones you must become a clone.

Taking two hypo-syringes filled with cosmetic nanites — one for the Human, the other for the three Duros — the medical 'droid injects the four Jedi Knights. It takes a few moments, but soon the nanites begin working their magic. Writhing in agony, the four Jedi transform — Obi-Wan into a man with dusky skin and almond-shaped eyes; the three Duros into identical olive-green Neimoidians with orange eyes. They all wear barcodes upon their foreheads.

TEYF BERAL: (to Jano) You look awful.

JANO BERAL: (pushes Teyf) You're no belle of the ball yourself.

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Report back to barracks and get some sleep. We're due for the spaceport at 0500 tomorrow. (to Obi-Wan) Clones don't sport long tresses or facial hair; have it shorn.

OBI-WAN: (runs hand through still-blond hair) Shame.

EXT. SPACE — THULE

The Slipstream emerges from hyperspace. Before the ship rests the mottled gray, brown, and blue sphere of the planet Thule.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT

Anakin is with Dahlia in the cockpit, the ex-Jedi in the copilot's chair. Vizsla's form occupies one of the two passenger chairs behind them.

DAHLIA: Thule. (contemptuous) If there's a foul, stinking armpit to the universe, this is it.

EXT. THULE — HUROM — SPACEPORT/TARMAC — DAY

The Slipstream has landed. Loading hatch extended, Dahlia disembarks, Anakin and Vizsla tailing her. From all appearances, it appears the spaceport grounds haven't undergone serious maintenance in forty or fifty years, if not longer. The duracrete is cracked and uplifted in numerous spots, with long grass and weeds growing up through the cracks.

DAHLIA: It's gonna take some time unloading the crates. Go into town. If you're gonna be staying, you'd best get a lay of the land. I won't leave before you get back; promise.

Anakin decides to take her advice. Nodding once to the unseen Vizsla, they leave Dahlia to explore the capital city of Hurom.

EXT. HUROM — STREET — CONTINUOUS

Anakin and his spectral companion explore the streets of Hurom. The city itself is in as grievous a state of disrepair as the spaceport, with thick moss hanging heavily from the sagging rooftops and the street cobblestones lying uneven/upturned upon the ground. The cityfolk don't appear to be in any better condition; undernourished and sallow, dressed mostly in stained, threadbare clothes which haven't been in fashion since pre-Clone War years, there isn't a soul amongst them under the age of fifty.

EXT. SITH TEMPLE — DAY

Anakin brushing off the advances of an aged prostitute bearing what appears to be a full-body rash, they finally come to the heart of Hurom. Rising up from the ground there, ancient in the days when Hurom was young, is a temple. Built with blocks hewn from basalt, pyramidal in structuree, the distinctive characteristics of Sith architecture are evident.

INT. SITH TEMPLE/ATRIUM — DAY

Slipping inside the temple, Anakin enters the atrium. Kneeling on the floor in the centre of the chamber, bathed in the blue-green light streaming down through the dark opal skylight overhead, are DOZENS OF PARISHIONERS. Dressed in robes of black sackcloth, they prostrate themselves before a statue of green-black stone. The statue is of a Sith Lord, adorned in cloak, armour, and skull-like helm, hands rested on the pommel of a longsword.

Wading in amongst the parishioners, Anakin approaches the statue. Opening himself to the Force, he reaches out. There is power here. It is very weak, very faint, with no intelligence malign or otherwise behind it, but it is present all the same. It draws on the feeble life-force of the parishioners, the other cityfolk, the settlement itself for sustenance, keeping itself alive if only barely.

One of the parishioners lunges at Anakin, taking hold of his leg.

PARISHIONER #1: You! The Power! You reek of the Power! (buries face in Anakin's leg; inhales sharply) Intoxicating! (beat) What are you? Are you of the god?

The other parishioners begin crowding Anakin, feeling him up, smelling and licking him for a taste of what their comrade finds in him.

PARISHIONER #2: I taste nothing!

PARISHIONER #1: (angry) You wouldn't, Enak, you dessicated, senseless fart! (licks Anakin's knee) He is saturated with Power! He is the god!

The parishioners gang up on the ex-Jedi now, eagre and desperate to know their nebulous god in the flesh. Overwhelmed by the experience, fearful of what extremes their zealous affection will take them, Anakin breaks away from these pathetic remnants of Humanity and runs out.

EXT. SITH TEMPLE — DAY

Emerging from the temple entrance, Anakin runs up to Vizsla, who hasn't moved from his spot since their arrival. The parishioner who first assaulted Anakin comes hobbling after him, pallor positively ghastly even under this dingy daylight, grinning a nigh-toothless grin.

PARISHIONER #1: God! God!

As the filthy man closes in on the two, Vizsla telekinetically snaps his neck. The death is quick and painless.

PRE VIZSLA: He didn't deserve to live.

Vizsla's statement is one of pity, not contempt.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/MAIN CORRIDOR — DAY

Having returned to the Slipstream, Anakin finds Dahlia waiting for him in the main corridor. Leaning against the bulkhead, arms crossed over her chest, she greets Anakin with a wry half-smile.

DAHLIA: Was your trip downtown edifying?

ANAKIN: (uneasy) Very.

DAHLIA: You didn't sample the local cuisine, I hope.

ANAKIN: Local cuisine?

DAHLIA: About sixty years old, with an advanced case of Bothan redrash. I believe she goes by the name Necca.

ANAKIN: (nonplussed) No!

Dahlia LAUGHS at his expense. It's mocking, spiteful laughter — not at all pleasant or wholesome.

ANAKIN: There must be other towns, other settlements….

DAHLIA: A few farms. Maybe even a manned weather station or two.

ANAKIN: You're telling me that is the only substantial settlement on this entire planet?

DAHLIA: Kessiak used to have a modest population, but it was left in ruin in the last Clone War. I don't believe anyone's lived there in the years since.

Anakin shakes his head with disbelief.

DAHLIA: Listen. I've come to a decision. I'll take you the whole way to Korriban.

ANAKIN: I thought you didn't want to run the risk with pirates in the area.

Approaching Anakin, Dahlia runs her finger along his jawline.

DAHLIA: What can I say? I've always had a soft spot for men with large, hard (glances at his crotch) chins.

ANAKIN: (blushes) Are you certain you wanna do this?

DAHLIA: (shrugs) You're welcome to stay on Thule. A month's rent in the city's about 900 credits; I can front you that much. Of course, two-third's of the city's empty, so you could always hole up in one of the abandoned villas. (beat) There aren't many jobs available, but you're young and healthy; there're men who'd pay good money to make use of your strong body. (winks) I'm sure if you save up your creds, you can pay for off-world passage in … oh … seventy years. That's if you find a pilot willing to fly you into Sith Space….

ANAKIN: We don't have seventy years. (beat) Take us from this place, Ms. Karin.

DAHLIA: Aye-aye, Mr. Valor.

EXT. SPACE — THULE

The Slipstream makes the run for the edge of the system.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT

Following Vizsla's instructions, Anakin encodes a series of hyperspace coordinates into the navicomp.

ANAKIN: There is no direct route to Korriban. (points at five spots on star chart) We'll have to make stops here, here, here, here and here before we reach the Horuset system.

DAHLIA: Yeah, and any one of them could be teeming with pirates.

ANAKIN: (smiles wryly) You're welcome to stay on Thule. A month's rent in the city's about 900 credits; I believe you have at least that much.

DAHLIA: (tosses stylus at his head) Blow it out your airlock.

Vizsla regards their banter silently.

EXT. GEONOSIS — DESERT — DAWN

The Condawni have spent all night marching across the flat desert hardpan, tugged ever onward by the speeder bikes they've been chained to. Now the pitch darkness of night has receded, replaced with the empty gray of dawn.

Bored after a night of shepherding the prisoners, one of the bikers decides to have a little fun with his chain gang. Feeding power to his engines, he picks up speed, forcing the Condawni chained behind him to pick up their pace. Grinning, he goes faster, forcing the prisoners to run. As he attains enough speed to trip the prisoners trip, dragging them across the rough terrain, T'har orders him to cut it out. He decelerates, knowing the dismal fate in store for him should he fail to obey the Bith.

EXT. RAIDER CAMP — MORNING

As the sun finally rises over the horizon, casting its cold light upon the colder desert, the raider party and their Condawni captives finally arrive at the raider camp. Situated within a formation of hoodoos, hundreds of ramshackle tents have been erected around a derelict sandcrawler — a large metal behemoth of a vehicle which looks like it's been well on its way to becoming a part of the natural landscape for some time now. Parking, the raiders unhook their prisoners from their bikes and guide them through the camp to the sandcrawler. As the Condawni pass by the numerous tents, they spy the hundreds of raiders looking upon them, eyes gleaming with ravenous hunger from within their flinty sockets.

INT. SANDCRAWLER/PRISON AREA — MORNING

Taken aboard the sandcrawler, as many of the Condawni prisoners as possible are stuffed inside a compartment which has since been converted into a makeshift prison. The compartment is dark, all its surfaces covered in thick layers of greasy or sticky grime. The air is stale and fetid, thick with the miasma produced by the creatures who lived, urinated, defecated, died, and decayed here before them. Though fairly large, the compartment only provides standing room for all these many captives.

Overwhelmed, Mitra begins BAWLING. Forcing his way through the others, Darth finds her. Pulling her close to him, he picks her up and rocks her in his arms, singing to her gently, praying he'll be able to comfort her while knowing he won't.

INT. SANDCRAWLER/CONTROL ROOM — MORNING

With T'har pulling his chain, Chlorian is led up into what was the control room of the sandcrawler. There, seated in an uprooted chair, a small harem of none-too-lovely ladies gathered around him, waits ELIK SHIIID, leader of the raiders. A dusky Zabrak male, he is healthy and well-fed — at least in comparison to the Condawni and most fellow raiders.

ELIK SHIIID: Welcome, friend.

Chlorian looks about the control room. Most of the consoles and stations have been dismantled, panels resting against walls or upon the floor, numerous tools and parts strewn about. Towards the front of the room, a crude barbecue has been erected. Behind it, an equally crude but very effective rack for restraining humanoid captives.

ELIK SHIIID: And you're ...? (beat) No need to tell me. You're Chlorian Vader, Governor of Condawn.

CHLORIAN: I'm not anything.

ELIK SHIIID: Have to admit, I didn't think you'd've survived this far. I figured you'd've gone mad trapped up in that fortress of yours, killed yourselves or ate yourselves up long before now. Yet you actually managed to get out of the city and survive in this icebox wilderness. Most of the local game was depleted when the first of us fled Condawn months ago, but you found enough to eat to keep going. You've impressed me, Governor — you truly have. (grins) I knew I made the right choice voting for you.

CHLORIAN: You have me at a disadvantage. You know who I am, but I don't know you from Adam.

ELIK SHIIID: Elik Shiiid. You wouldn't know the name; I wasn't anybody in my old life.

CHLORIAN: You've come up in the world?

ELIK SHIIID: I'd say the world's come down to me! (laughs)

CHLORIAN: (gestures to surroundings) What is this … construct?

ELIK SHIIID: Sandcrawler. I'd venture she's been here since the old Republic made bids for the planet — a real relic. We stumbled upon her a month away from Condawn. (beat) In fairly decent shape, considering her age. She's made a good fortress. (points to dismantled equipment) I hoped to get her up and running so we could leave this benighted pit and find more food, but look what I have to work with here. (points out viewport) I've found maybe a dozen half-decent mechanics in the lot of them. Even they can't tell the difference between an arc welder and autowrench most the time. (beat) Governor, I want information. What's gone on in the world since we left?

CHLORIAN: Geonosis is dying.

ELIK SHIIID: (sighs) I already knew that. (scratches head) Strap him to the rack, Alaad.

T'har drags Chlorian over to the rack. Removing the chain collar from the Human's throat, the Bith forces him into the rack and fastens the metal straps around his wrists, torso, and ankles.

ELIK SHIIID: It's not good you should perish with the offal, Gov. Vader. You'll stay here with me and die in the presence of equals.

EXT. SPACE — CORUSCANT

Leaving Coruscant, a TIE shuttle rendezvous with Troia's Steed, a large Action VI bulk freighter situated in orbit over the planet.

INT. TROIA'S STEED/CARGO BAY

Aboard the freighter, Tarkin, Kenobi (now shorn and shaven) and the Berals access one of the transport's many cargo bays. Walking along a catwalk, they stop to look down over the railing. Immense in size, the entire bay is completely empty. With the overhead lights off, the only illumination provided if from the railing lights, creating the unsettling illusion they're looking into a bottomless pit.

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Not long ago this cargo bay was filled with Spaarti cylinders, each carrying a clone _in utero_. The crew was making a covert run out of the Prackla sector, destination unknown; we caught them five parsecs from the Von-Alai system.

SEV BERAL: A prodigious craft. Wouldn't a courier be more in fitting with our needs?

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Indeed — were this your typical bulk freighter. (beat) It's a stealth ship, outfitted with its own cloaking device.

OBI-WAN: How did you ever manage to capture a stealth ship?

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Cloaking devices require considerable amounts of energy to remain in operation. One need only corral a stealth ship, and before long its reservoirs will run dry.

SEV BERAL: How long can this ship maintain its cloak?

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Sixty-four minutes.

INT. TROIA'S STEED/BRIDGE

The lieutenant commander and four Jedi enter the bridge. There, already going about their business, is a bridge crew of dusky skinned Human males and olive-green Neimoidians.

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Imperial High Command deemed it more auspicious to use reconditioned clones than Imperial personnel for this mission. (beat) The most willful man can cave under torture; the mindless automaton never will.

Taking the command chair, Tarkin orders the Human navigator to set course out of the system.

EXT. SPACE

The Slipstream drops out of hyperspace. They have arrived in a solar system consisting of a single red giant with a pair of gas giants.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT

Consulting the maps, Anakin charts a course which will take the ship diagonally across the system, past the two gas giants to the Kuiper belt. Coordinates laid in, Dahlia sets the ship on autopilot.

DAHLIA: Five hours to the next hyperroute….

ANAKIN: Mmm-hmm.

DAHLIA: Five tedious hours. (beat) Want to watch Juo Deltar Faces Gamblor the Terrible?

ANAKIN: I'll be right along.

Rising, Dahlia leave the cockpit. Anakin watches her out of the corner of his eye.

PRE VIZSLA: Quite a striking woman.

ANAKIN: Our hostess caught your eye, Pre?

PRE VIZSLA: No more than she's caught yours. (beat) I'd wager far less.

ANAKIN: Something you'd like to share with the class, Vizsla?

PRE VIZSLA: You're an open book to me, and I needn't the Force to read it. The cadence of your voice when you speak to her; the way your eyes dart to the side when you make eye contact; the edge in your very body language — they all signify you're attracted to this girl. Quite strongly attracted.

ANAKIN: I've always had an eye for beautiful women.

PRE VIZSLA: This is above than an appreciation for art.

ANAKIN: Since you know seemingly everything about me, you know I have a girlfriend, that I'm faithful to her.

PRE VIZSLA: As faithful as Zul was to me?

ANAKIN: (frowns) Don't dare compare our relationships. 'Shira and I have had two years together, and that came off three years of friendship. Zul was a priestess pacifist before you drafted her into your terrorist cell. You wanted her for a battle dog? Don't be surprised she bit the hand that bled her.

Finished with Vizsla, Anakin leaps out of his seat and crosses over to the hatch.

PRE VIZSLA: Every man's a dog in his own right, and he'll sniff out every bitch in heat if so allowed.

Anakin turns to face Vizsla.

PRE VIZSLA: (cont'd) The question is will this bitch allow you, and to what purpose?

INT. SLIPSTREAM/LOUNGE

Dahlia is decked out on the lounge sofa, watching through the opening credits of her holovid when Anakin enters the chamber.

DAHLIA: (pats cushion beside her) Take a seat.

Anakin takes the proffered cushion.

DAHLIA: Like Juo Deltar?

ANAKIN: One of my favs.

Minutes pass. Anakin tries keeping his attention on the projection, but Dahlia's main interests lie elsewhere; giving Anakin a sly smile, the Pantoran rests a hand on his leg.

ANAKIN: (perturbed) Dahlia….

DAHLIA: (strokes his leg) I don't know what you know about Pantorans, but long hours confined in enclosed spaces tend to make us … anxious.

ANAKIN: (takes her hand away) Dahlia, I'm sorry. (beat) I'm spoken for.

DAHLIA: (smile fades) Oh….

ANAKIN: It's my fault. I should have told you.

DAHLIA: Don't sweat it.

EXT. SPACE — ASTEROID

As the Slipstream passes by the first gas giant, the ship moves within range of its only moon, a large potato-shaped asteroid quarter the size of a terrestrial planet. Unfortunately for the crew, the asteroid isn't only an asteroid; it's the home base for a group of pirates.

As the Slipstream moves past the asteroid, a squadron of mixed starfighters emerges from hidden ports and moves in an attack formation for the CR60 corvette.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/LOUNGE

The first plasma bursts impact upon the ship's hull as Anakin and Dahlia are watching the movie. The lounge rattling, the two leap up from the sofa, quick to leave for the cockpit.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT

Anakin and Dahlia enter the cockpit. Dahlia crosses over to the controls and quickly throws up the Slipstream's shields. Another salvo of white plasmafire impacts upon the ship, but the shields protect it from damage this time. A pair of starfighters pass over the viewport.

DAHLIA: Pirates.

ANAKIN: You recognize their markings?

DAHLIA: Does it matter?

ANAKIN: No.

Dahlia disengages the autopilot and takes back control of her ship.

EXT. SPACE

Try as she might, Dahlia cannot outrun the pirate fighters.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT

DAHLIA: (grimaces) Stang! Can't shake them! (beat) How are you at the guns?

ANAKIN: Good.

DAHLIA: Excellent. Take them.

ANAKIN: I think I'll take the helm.

DAHLIA: (chuckles humourlessly) No one pilots the Slipstream but me.

ANAKIN: It's a wonder you've lived this long.

Taking Dahlia by the scruff of her jumpsuit, the former Jedi hefts her up out of the chair.

DAHLIA: Hey!

ANAKIN: Listen. I'm a damned good shot, but I'm an even better pilot. Want to raise our chances for survival? Do as I say!

Anakin pushes Dahlia away. Righting herself, she stands there a moment, glowering at him.

DAHLIA: Goddamn, you make me hot.

Dahlia sprints out of the cockpit, leaving Anakin to take the helm.

EXT. SPACE

The pirates continue pummeling the Slipstream. The corvette's shields hold, but they're beginning to weaken in various spots.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/STARBOARD GUN WELL

Slipping inside the gun well, Dahlia situates herself in her seat, activating the turbolaser batteries. As the targeting computer comes online, she begins drawing a bead on their attackers.

EXT. SPACE

With the Slipstream twisting and turning to avoid the pirates' plasmafire, the pirates keeping to them tight like ticks, Dahlia gets a lock on one of the starfighters and pulls the trigger. White laser beams strike home with devastating force, obliterating the fighter with a flash of vaporized metal, fuel, and oxygen.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/STARBOARD GUN WELL

DAHLIA: Yes!

EXT. SPACE — RINGED GAS GIANT

The Slipstream's course has finally taken it within range of the system's second gas giant: a large cerulean sphere encircled by a thick series of rings.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT

Slipping a radio headset over his ears, Anakin opens the comm to Dahlia.

ANAKIN: Dahlia?

INT. SLIPSTREAM/STARBOARD GUN WELL

Dahlia is fighting to lock on a fighter when Anakin's tinny voice pipes in through her headset. After blowing another enemy away, she scrambles to slip the headset on.

DAHLIA: Akira, what's up?

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT

ANAKIN: We're within range of the second gas giant. It has a system of rings. I'm going to take us through. With any luck, we'll shake these pirates and continue on our merry way.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/STARBOARD GUN WELL

DAHLIA: (shocked) Did some of those blasts seep through the shields and into your brain‽ We can't possibly make it!

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT

ANAKIN: I have a good feeling about this.

Focusing all attention on the improbably difficult task ahead, Anakin steers the Slipstream head-on into the rings.

EXT. SPACE — RING SYSTEM

Entering the ring system, the Slipstream is immediately surrounded by rocky and icy debris — some pieces small as sand grains, others as large as boulders. There's not much space between the largest fragments, but Anakin manages to maneuver through. The pirates aren't so lucky. Though their starfighters are far smaller and maneuverable than the corvette, their pilots' skill isn't equivalent to Anakin's; most of them are dashed to pieces.

Figuring the debris will finish the Slipstream — and them — off before they can reach the corvette, the surviving pirates abandon the chase. As the pirate fighters turn back, the Slipstream emerges out the other side of the debris field.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT

ANAKIN: (grins) All too easy.

Dahlia enters the cockpit. She strides up to Anakin. As he turns around to greet her, she slaps him hard across the face.

DAHLIA: (enraged) Don't you ever endanger me or my ship like that again!

She then grabs him by the front of his shirt and pulls him to her, kissing him fiercely on the mouth.

DAHLIA: (sighs) We both needed that.

Coming down off their mutual adrenaline high, the two partners relax. Letting Dahlia return to the pilot's chair, Anakin almost leisurely sets about correcting the ship's course.

A light begins flashing on Dahlia's console.

ANAKIN: What's that?

DAHLIA: It looks like your hotshot piloting cost us some damage, flyboy. The hyperdrive's offline.

ANAKIN: (frowns) Is it bad?

DAHLIA: If it is, it'll take us a whole lot longer than five hours to leave this system. (stands up) C'mon.

Rising from his seat, Anakin follows Dahlia out of the cockpit.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/AIRLOCK

Entering the airlock, Dahlia directs Anakin to a series of lockers. Opening one, she reveals a spacesuit stored within. Opening another, she reveals a second, identical suit.

DAHLIA: Slip it on.

ANAKIN: We have to go outside?

DAHLIA: (unstraps hydrospanner on leg) Yeah, we do. CR60 hyperdrives can only be accessed from outside. (beat) Well?

ANAKIN: (swallows audibly) I've never been very comfortable in vacuum.

DAHLIA: (takes out suit) You'll just have to man up and grow a pair.

As Dahlia suits up, Anakin decides to take her advice. Manning up, growing a pair, he slips into his spacesuit.

Once Dahlia has finished, she picks up her hydrospanner and stashes it in her locker. Securing the locker, she points to a toolbox hanging on the bulkhead. Anakin retrieves it.

DAHLIA: Check me.

Turning around, Dahlia lets Anakin look her over to make certain her suit's fastened tight and in prime condition. Giving her the okay sign, he turns around to let her do the same. With Anakin checking out, Dahlia depressurizes the airlock and opens the hatch, affording them both a direct, firsthand view of outer space's star-spangled eternal night.

EXT. SPACE — SLIPSTREAM

Situated over the Slipstream's engines, their suits' tractor boots keeping them from floating free, the man and woman are busy repairing the damage done to the hyperdrive's connections.

DAHLIA: Hydrospanner.

Taking the hydrospanner from the toolbox, Anakin hands it to her. Taking it, she begins loosening something.

ANAKIN: Why do you always wear it?

DAHLIA: Excuse me?

ANAKIN: That hydrospanner, the one on your thigh. Why do you always carry it?

DAHLIA: Would you believe a girl likes to be prepared for any eventuality?

ANAKIN: If that's the answer….

DAHLIA: Truth be told, the thing's broken, busted, hasn't worked in years. The most use I get out of it is as a paperweight.

ANAKIN: A good luck charm, then?

DAHLIA: You're not far off. (beat) It's the last gift I received from my father before he died. (beat) The central heater had been in need of replacing for months, but of course you can't remove a defunct central heater without a hydrospanner. We were between hydrospanners at the time. I kept nagging Dad, "Pick up a hydrospanner. We need a hydrospanner. You want the old heater out? The new heater in? Buy a hydrospanner." Of course he listened. Took him two weeks before he finally listened, but he went out and bought that hydrospanner. (glum) Two weeks after, a faulty seal on a plasma torch went and he went with it.

ANAKIN: I'm sorry.

DAHLIA: Sorry for what? It wasn't your fault. (sniffles)

ANAKIN: You loved him very much.

DAHLIA: And he loved me very much — probably too much. (laughs) How's your pop?

ANAKIN: Having a drink with yours right about now. (beat) Gangsters.

DAHLIA: What sort of man was he?

ANAKIN: He didn't have the strongest sense of humour, but he had a good heart and he always did right by me, my mom and sister. (beat) I still miss him.

DAHLIA: You never stop missing them. You're always afraid that somehow you will, that the passage of time'll blunt your memory of them, but it never does. They're with you forever.

They stand still and silent, eyes intent on each other.

DAHLIA: Repairs are almost complete. Help me finish up, okay?

ANAKIN: Okay.

They resume their work.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/AIRLOCK

Returning inside, Anakin and Dahlia slip out of their spacesuits and return them to their lockers. Standing there, they face one another, eye-to-eye.

ANAKIN: My name — my real name — is Anakin. Anakin Skywalker.

DAHLIA: Welcome aboard the Slipstream, Anakin.

Those tense words spoken, the two come together. Taking Dahlia's blue face in his hands, Anakin brings her lips to his. Opening her mouth, Dahlia lets his tongue inside, allowing it to swim and dance with hers. Driving Anakin against the bulkhead, Dahlia pulls the front of his shirt open. She then unzips the front of her jumpsuit, revealing nothing worn beneath it.

Easing her out of the sleeves of her jumpsuit, Anakin exposes the thick network of ugly scars which run along the left side of her torso down her hip.

ANAKIN: (shocked) Dahlia! Those scars —!

DAHLIA: Shut up and kark me.

Dahlia opens his fly. Anakin forgets all about the scars.

INT. MIRIAL — BRANNRID MEDICAL CENTRE/DR. REYEM'S OFFICE — DAY

Nashira has made it to Mirial and the Brannrid Medical Centre. There, Dr. Reyem has given the young woman the news about Anakin.

NASHIRA: (outraged) You can't find him‽ What are you saying‽

As the doctor begins explaining the matter, 'Shira suddenly doubles over. Her outrage is immediately tempered with sudden confusion.

DR. REYEM: Miss DuQuesne, are you alright?

NASHIRA: (frowns) I … I ...

With dismay, Nashira raises a hand to her mouth. Her eyes grow moist.

DR. REYEM: (concerned) Are you okay?

Though not consciously aware of what has transpired, Nashira knows in her heart of hearts that Anakin has betrayed her for another. She breaks down, CRYING.

INT. GEONOSIS — SANDCRAWLER/PRISON AREA — NIGHT

Time has passed since the Condawni were captured and brought to this place, and their numbers have thinned considerably.

One of the Condawni sits in a dark corner, apart from the others. Dangerously emaciated, coated in grime, he looks like a resin-soaked mummy which has been stripped of its wrappings. Suffering from a compound fracture to his left ankle, he CRIES with great agony, his wound stinking with gangrene.

CONDAWNI WOMAN: (enraged) By the stars, just shut up! Just shut up!

Attacking the poor man, the woman throttles him to death. Darth holds his hands down over Mitra's ears, keeping her face turned away, so she doesn't have to witness this.

The hatch into the compartment opens and four raiders enter. One of the raiders levels his speargun at the hysterical woman and pulls the trigger. The woman falls atop her victim, dead.

RAIDER #1: We'll be having two for dinner tonight.

RAIDER #2: Him? But he's already gone half-bad.

RAIDER #1: All the more reason to be done with 'im. Don't need 'im spoilin' the other meat.

The raiders go to the dead Condawni. Taking up their legs, they drag the bodies out of the compartment.

RAIDER #2: (to Condawni) Now y'all can have some peace and quiet!

The raider laughs, then he and his comrades leave the prison area, securing the hatch behind them as they go.

The raiders gone, the cries of pain and rage gone, Darth takes his hands from Mitra's ears.

MITRA: (sad) Darth?

DARTH: What up?

MITRA: Tell me the rest of The Maverick Moon.

DARTH: I can't. I lost the datapad.

MITRA: Please.

DARTH: Alright. I'll try to remember how it goes. (beat) Suddenly Deak Starkiller broke through the magnetic field. He found himself in a shaky orbit around the maverick moon. "Prepare to fire the zukonium rays!" Deak shouted to A-2. "We'll have to get out of here in a split second!" (beat) The zukonium rays were aimed at the centre of the moon. Deak squeezed down on the firing lever. (beat) It was a direct hit! The impact of the exploding moon sent Deak's plane reeling out of control. A-2's lights blinked on and off as his circuits blew. Desperately Deak tried to regain control. But he didn't have to worry. The Force was with him. The special power he could not explain protected him and steered him free from danger. (beat) When Deak and A-2 returned to the hangar, the entire population of the Academy was there to greet them with yells and cheers. Happiest of all were their good friends Princess Zara and C-3. (beat) Princess Zara placed a medal of honour around Deak's neck. "Now we can get back to work," said Deak, feeling a little embarrassed. "I'm glad that you and the Planetary Pioneers will be able to continue your work," said Zara. "But I'm even happier that you are alive and safe." (beat) And that's the end.

MITRA: (smiles) Good ending.

DARTH: Sure is.

MITRA: You think there's a Force protecting us, Darth?

A tear runs from Darth's eye. He quickly wipes it away.

DARTH: Yes.

EXT. ABAFAR — PONS ORA — DR. EVAZAN'S COSMETIC SURGERY — DAY

On the remote Outer Rim planet Abafar, in a corner of dusty Pons Ora, is Dr. Evazan's Cosmetic Surgery, a small, decrepit clinic.

INT. DR. EVAZAN'S COSMETIC SURGERY/OPERATING ROOM — DAY

Within the dingy operating room, working under a single overhead light, DR. CORNELIUS EVAZAN is busy at work. His patient recently lost an arm, and the good doctor has seen fit to replace it with a bionic prosthesis.

DR. EVAZAN: (finishes making final connections) There, finished. Good as new.

Evazan steps back, allowing Llomon to sit up. There on his right arm, grafted just above where his original elbow used to be, is a large blaster cannon.

LLOMON: It's heavy. (flexes elbow) It's sluggish.

DR. EVAZAN: The nerves in your arm haven't fully integrated with the neural interface. Give it time. Before long it'll feel as much a part of you as your old arm did.

LLOMON: (flexes elbow) I want to test it.

DR. EVAZAN: Follow me.

EXT. DR. EVAZAN'S COSMETIC SURGERY/FIRING RANGE — DAY

Evazan takes the Trandoshan out behind his clinic, where a modest firing range has been erected. A number of inactive 'droids have been lined up, dressed and positioned to vaguely resemble intimidating thugs, bounty hunters, and police officers. Bringing forth his new limb, Llomon targets the 'droids and opens fire, blasting them all to smithereens with superheated white plasma balls.

DR. EVAZAN: (grins) Satisfied?

INT. SLIPSTREAM/DAHLIA'S QUARTERS

Within Dahlia's quarters, Anakin sits at a round dining table, dressed in clean, pressed, nice clothes. Leaving the kitchenette, Dahlia — wearing a simple but pretty red dress — comes to the table bearing two plates laden with thick nerf steaks and scalloped tubers. Setting Anakin's plate down in front of him, she takes hers across to her side of the table.

DAHLIA: Nerf steaks. Scalloped tubers. I always keep good food on-board, but eat it only on very special occasions. (beat) Try your steak. I hope it's how you wanted it. Medium well, right?

ANAKIN: (takes bite of steak) Medium well, exactly.

DAHLIA: (grins) Excellent. (takes bite of steak) Mmm. Myself, I love it rare. Can't eat it any other way.

Dahlia, ravenous, sets about shovelling food in her mouth. Anakin isn't feeling nearly so peckish.

DAHLIA: (frowns) Something wrong with the grub?

ANAKIN: No, nothing's wrong. It's perfect. The best I've eaten since ... Orron III.

DAHLIA: (sighs) You're thinking about Nashira. (beat) Anakin, long-distance relationships ... they never work out. Couples make vows of everlasting love, promise faithfully to remain true forever and always, forsaking all others ... but they're just romantic lies they tell themselves. Sooner, later, they find themselves drawn to other people ... falling in love with other people. They move on. (rests hand on Anakin's) It's natural, healthy. You have nothing to be ashamed of.

ANAKIN: You don't understand. We share a rapport, a bond. Through the Force, we feel what the other feels. Pleasure ... and pain. (beat) Right now I feel her inside me. Her heart is breaking and she doesn't know why. (beat) But I do.

DAHLIA: (smiles) I believe you. I believe you and Nashira do share a deep, intimate connection. It's beautiful. You and Nashira will be in each other's hearts always. But you do feel the connection we have, don't you?

ANAKIN: I do.

DAHLIA: It may not be as strong as yours and Nashira's, but give it time. The slender sapling becomes the sturdy oak with time.

ANAKIN: But here and now, we suffer. (beat) Would you have me make love to you again, knowing Nashira will feel what I feel, knowing how deep it will hurt her?

DAHLIA: No. My appetites are strong, but not that strong. (beat) I'm willing to wait however long it takes for the two of you to reprioritize your feelings.

ANAKIN: (facepalms) It was a mistake. What we did was a mistake.

DAHLIA: (shakes head) It wasn't a mistake.

ANAKIN: It was a mistake! It was my mistake! I should've known better! I love 'Shira!

Leaving her chair, Dahlia walks over to Anakin. Resting her hands on his shoulders, she begins massaging them.

DAHLIA: Right now, this ship is hurtling toward the resting place of the ancient Sith. Once we arrive, if you find what you seek, you will gain power beyond measure. But with that power comes a price. You will become an enemy of the Jedi. Your poster will be plastered on every civilized world throughout the Empire. Police will seek to capture you. Bounty hunters will try to claim the price on your head. You will be a fugitive, always on the run, never able to sleep another peaceful sleep. (beat) Do you believe Nashira loves you enough to give up her normal, comfortable life to run with you in the night, world-to-world, never resting, never stopping, in constant danger? Do you really want her to? (turns his face to hers) I will run with you, all the days of your life.

They kiss.

INT. GEONOSIS — SANDCRAWLER/PRISON AREA — NIGHT

Darth and Mitra are asleep in each other's arms when the hatch opens and the four same raiders from before enter.

RAIDER #1: (points at Darth and Mitra) The kids.

Two of the raiders grab Darth and Mitra and hoist them up. Jolted out of their uneasy sleep, the kids begin kicking and screaming.

INT. SANDCRAWLER/CONTROL ROOM — NIGHT

Shiiid stands before Chlorian, examining him closely as if he were a particularly interesting bug under a magnifying glass. Chlorian, still strapped into the rack, appears weak and weary. Of course, it shouldn't come as much surprise; aside from the fact that he hasn't eaten a thing since long before his capture, his left hand has been severed.

ELIK SHIIID: You're hungry, aren't you, Chlorian? How long's it been since you had yourself a bite? Before we made you at home, I'd wager. How long? A week? Much longer?

Chlorian GROANS.

ELIK SHIIID: You can't say we didn't offer you a hand. (laughs)

CHLORIAN: You're mad.

Chlorian's stomach RUMBLES.

ELIK SHIIID: (rubs Chlorian's belly) Not as mad as your stomach! (laughs) Governor, I consider myself a moral man. Now, a moral man couldn't very well go around killing his fellow sapient and roasting him on a spit were all his bolts screwed in place, could he? Could he? He'd have to be cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs to even consider such things. (pokes Chlorian in gut) You've considered such things before, haven't you, Chlorian Vader? Out there on the hardpan, forcing yourself to swallow down lichen scrapings, you couldn't help but look at your bestest friend this side of the Known Galaxy and conceptualize how easy the flesh of his bicep would go down your voracious throat. I know you have. I know. What I want to know is whether or not those thoughts came from a man who is moral.

Before Chlorian can give any sort of answer, the raiders with the children arrive.

RAIDER #1: We'll be havin' sucklin' brat tonight!

Chlorian is horrified when he sees Darth and Mitra held in the greasy arms of the raiders.

CHLORIAN: No! No!

The raiders carry the children to the barbecue, where the coals are already hot.

CHLORIAN: Shiiid, stop them! Call them off! Call them off!

ELIK SHIIID: (frowns) But why? They'll be so tender.

CHLORIAN: They're mine! They're mine!

ELIK SHIIID: (waves hand) Pshaw! I know you have no children living in-system.

CHLORIAN: Darth is my son!

Chlorian makes eye contact with Darth.

CHLORIAN: Darth is my son….

ELIK SHIIID: (grins) A bastard, you say?

Leaving Chlorian, Shiiid hops on over to the raider holding Darth. Leaning in close, he studies the boy's features.

ELIK SHIIID: Not the strongest resemblance. Must take after his mother. (faces Chlorian) You ever take him to a smashball game?

CHLORIAN: He didn't know I was his father. (beat) I never told him.

ELIK SHIIID: That answers my question. (pinches Darth's cheek) Let's open them up and throw 'em on the grill.

Drawing a knife from his belt, Shiiid raises it to Darth's throat.

CHLORIAN: You can't! You can't! Please!

ELIK SHIIID: Geonosis never was a place for children. It's best we snuff them out to prevent them any further torment.

CHLORIAN: Darth's a mechanic!

Shiiid rests the blade against Darth's throat but doesn't draw it across.

ELIK SHIIID: Mechanic?

CHLORIAN: He's good with tools! He can take things apart, put them together! He modified his own skimboard! He can help you with the repairs to your sandcrawler!

ELIK SHIIID: The devil you say?

CHLORIAN: He can! I swear he can! Just leave them both alone!

The Zabrak takes the blade from the boy's throat.

ELIK SHIIID: (taps blade against head) How does this sound: We'll put him to work on our vehicles and tools, first — our damaged stuff. If he shows a penchant for fixing things mechanical, we'll spare his hide and put him to work on the sandcrawler engines. Does that sound sweet?

CHLORIAN: It does! It does!

ELIK SHIIID: (smiles) A deal it is then.

Leaving Darth, Shiiid walks over to Mitra. What he had planned to do to Darth he does do to her — without hesitation. Both Darth and Chlorian, son and father, begin SCREAMING wildly, thrashing against their restraints/captors, violently seeking to free themselves, to exact retribution against these murderers. They cannot.

ELIK SHIIID: The girl had nothing to offer. Now she does.

CHLORIAN: (enraged) I'll kill you, Shiiid! By the gods, I swear you'll die by that very same knife!

ELIK SHIIID: There are no gods on Geonosis.

INT. BATTLEMOON/LUH-3417'S OFFICE

Lu is at her desk, busy going over paperwork, when her door BUZZES.

LUH-3417: Enter.

The door slides open and SN — that is, SN-2249 — enters.

LUH-3417: What may I do for you, Commander?

SN-2249: The athas, Admiral. They seek an audience with you.

LUH-3417: Inform them I shall be there presently.

SN-2249: (nods) As you like.

INT. BATTLEMOON/HOLOPROJECTION CHAMBER

A door slides open, allowing Lu entrance into the dark, spacious holoprojection chamber. As the door slides shut, she strides over to the small round platform set in the centre of the floor. As she steps atop it, holographic images of the THIRTEEN MEMBERS OF THE ATHAN DIRECTORATE manifest in a circle around her, all larger than life. The hologram of ATHA PRIME, slightly larger than those of the lesser athas, faces Lu. Clad in his customary robes of iridescent shimmersilk, he looks upon her with hard eyes.

ATHA PRIME: LUH-3417.

LUH-3417: (bows) Milord.

ATHA PRIME: Ready your forces. The invasion of Geonosis commences in nine days.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/ANAKIN'S QUARTERS

Anakin is seated upon the floor. Cross-legged, eyes closed, he is in deep meditation.

There is a RAP, RAP, RAP at the door.

ANAKIN: Enter.

The door opens and Dahlia enters.

DAHLIA: We are two minutes away from the Horuset system.

Opening his eyes, Anakin rises to his full height. Dahlia's yellow eyes intent upon him, he leaves the quarters.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT

Entering the cockpit, Dahlia slips down behind the controls and disengages the hyperdrive.

EXT. SPACE — KORRIBAN

The Slipstream emerges into realspace. Right within view of the craft is the lonely planet of Korriban itself.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT

Dahlia studies Korriban with keen interest. Like Tatooine and Geonosis, black-and-gray Korriban appears to be a barren desert planet; no substantial vegetation or bodies of water can be seen from this vantage point.

EXT. SPACE — KORRIBAN

The Slipstream makes its descent run for the planet.

EXT. SPACE — BATTLEMOON

Far enough away from the battlemoon to avoid being registered on it sensors, the Troia's Steed drops out of hyperspace.

INT. TROIA'S STEED/AIRLOCK

Obi-Wan and the Berals are donning their white clone jumpsuits when Tarkin enters the airlock. Upon his arrival, they stand ramrod straight, all attention on their commanding officer.

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: You have the datacard?

From his utility belt, Sev withdraws a black-and-red datacard.

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Excellent. Remember: You slip aboard covertly, head directly for the Overbridge, and once there upload the virus into their central computer. Do this correctly, draw no attention to yourselves, and you should be in-and-out within the span of fifty minutes. Are you all clear on what must be done?

The four Jedi nod.

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Good. (beat) Synchronize chronometres. Synchronize ... now.

All five Imperials synchronize their chronos. Thus the real grunt work begins.

EXT. KORRIBAN — VALLEY OF THE SLEEPING KINGS — DAY

Passing through a system of storm clouds, the Slipstream emerges over the Valley of the Sleeping Kings, that place where the thousands of Sith monarchs and their loyal vassals repose. Though still awe-inspiring in their greatness, the magnificent stone tombs and statues of the ancient Sith have fallen into disrepair in the five-thousand millennia which have passed since the fall of their Empire.

Coming to hover over the great paved road which runs through the Valley, the Slipstream touches down and powers down.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/ARMORY — DAY

Inside the ship's armory, Anakin is equipping himself for the trial ahead. Taking a black suit of light armour out of a locker, he dons it. Covering his entire body from the neck down, the armour is form-fitting and flexible, made to accommodate the wearer's natural speed and agility without compromising protection. While it isn't strong enough to withstand anything as strong as direct blasterfire, it should keep him safe from whatever hazards may roam this desolate planet. He then equips himself with twin blaster pistols, a blaster rifle, several power packs, and a vibroblade.

DAHLIA: (O.C.) Black is your colour.

Anakin turns to Dahlia.

DAHLIA: (grins) Sexy and dangerous.

ANAKIN: (smiles) Blue remains yours.

DAHLIA: (pouts) Frigid and glum?

ANAKIN: Calming and confident.

DAHLIA: (twists strand of hair around finger) Guilty as charged.

They move in close.

DAHLIA: (rests hands on Anakin's chest) You certain I shouldn't come along?

ANAKIN: Creatures once roamed the Valley, protected the tombs ... tuk'ata, Sith hounds. I don't know if any still exist, but if they do ... I can't risk your life. The Slipstream's the safest place you can be.

Though crestfallen, Dahlia understands.

EXT. VALLEY OF THE SLEEPING KINGS — SLIPSTREAM — DAY

As Anakin emerges, he turns to Dahlia who stands in the ship's open hatch.

ANAKIN: If I'm not back in four hours, leave.

Dahlia frowns.

ANAKIN: No arguments. Four hours.

Reluctant, she nods her assent. Satisfied, Anakin turns and sets off down the road, the apparition of the Mandalorian Knight silently accompanying him once more.

EXT. SPACE — BATTLEMOON

As the Troia's Steed moves on approach for the battlemoon, it appears to fade from existence as its cloak is deployed, rendered fully invisible to all eyes and sensors.

CUT TO

An airlock hatch opening in the emptiness of space.

Dressed in spacesuits, Obi-Wan and the Berals step out. Firing their suits' thrusters, they're propelled towards the battlemoon. Upon coming to the surface of the battlemoon, they engage their tractor boots, allowing them to adhere to the metallic surface. Walking along the face of the battlemoon as if it were a miniature planetoid, they soon come across a maintenance hatch leading inside. Opening the hatch, they slip through.

INT. BATTLEMOON/AIRLOCK

Now inside the battlemoon and out of vacuum, they ditch their spacesuits and stow them out of sight. Obi-Wan then takes out a small holoprojector and activates it; a spherical map of the directions to the Overbridge is displayed.

EXT. KORRIBAN — VALLEY OF THE SLEEPING KINGS — ROAD — DAY

Here in the Valley of the Sleeping Kings, there is perfect silence. Aside from Anakin's footfalls upon the stone road and the odd crackle of thunder that reverberates through the air, there isn't a single sound to break the monotonous quiet. The effect is peculiar, eerie, and most unsettling.

EXT. VALLEY OF THE SLEEPING KINGS — GREAT TEMPLE — DAY

Anakin and Vizsla reach the rear end of the Valley and with it the Sith hopeful's destination. Before him rises the Great Temple, the grand mausoleum he saw in the vision conjured by Nykres Eikhan. As it was in his vision, a carved effigy of a Lettow male frames the entrance into the temple, its stone arms extended. Here, though, the braziers in its hands lie dead, cold as the Lettow who sleep beyond.

ANAKIN: You're not accompanying me?

PRE VIZSLA: I have done what the Force willed of me, which was bring you here. What you go to face, you must alone. (beat) The Force be with you, Anakin Skywalker.

Unholstering one of his blaster pistols, Anakin cautiously heads up the tall flight of steps. As he disappears beyond the dark entrance, Vizsla dematerializes.

INT. GREAT TEMPLE/ANTECHAMBER — DAY

Anakin soon comes to the antechamber of the Great Temple's burial chamber. The roof of the antechamber caved in a long time ago, leaving great boulders covered in layers of dust and cobwebs upon the floor. Making his way across the chamber, stepping across or between the boulders, Anakin comes across the shattered fragments of a large crystal in amongst the debris in the centre of the chamber. Unable to discern the crystal's original purpose, he proceeds onward.

INT. GREAT TEMPLE/BURIAL CHAMBER — DAY

Anakin enters the burial chamber. The chamber is rectangular, several metres across with a high ceiling — easily vaster than Eikhan's tomb on Xuthltan or the atrium in the temple on Thule. Along both the left and right sides of the tomb are large, high thrones which bear the bodies of all the Lords and Ladies of the Sith who reigned in the final age of the Sith Empire. Past the thrones, at the far end of the chamber, are two peculiar objects: a large tetrahedral crystal and a cyclopean statue of a hooded figure, a sceptre held in its right hand and an orb in its left. Anakin examines the thrones and the bodies seated upon them closely. Carved from obsidian, adorned with pairs of counchant tuk'ata statues which rest on secondary levels below the Sith, the thrones are identical in colour, size, and shape; only the unique crests adorning the face of each individual throne — the personal crests of the Lords they bear aloft — distinguish them. As for the bodies themselves, they all belong to the Lettow race, though decay and desiccation have removed most distinguishing characteristics from their features.

Stopping in the exact centre of the chamber, Anakin holsters his blaster. Unslinging his rifle, his eyes dart left and right at the two rows of thrones. He presents the rifle to the mummies.

ANAKIN: (chants in Sith)

Slowly, Anakin rests the blaster rifle at his feet. He then removes his gunbelt and presents it to the mummies.

ANAKIN: (chants in Sith)

He places the belt with pistols and vibroblade down with the rifle.

ANAKIN: (chants in Sith)

The former Jedi then slowly kneels down. Clenching his hands into fists, he places them against his forehead, the base of his palms pressed together.

ANAKIN: (chants in Sith)

He then takes his fists away from his forehead, unclenching them.

ANAKIN: (chants in Sith)

The rite completed, he slowly stands back up.

ANAKIN: I am Anakin Skywalker. I am a former Jedi Knight, outcast from that which you knew as the Galactic Republic. I have come before you, the Dark Lords of the Sith, seeking an audience. I beseech thee — lend me your ear!

Anakin waits. All is still, all is silent. The tall braziers lining the chamber remain dark, the mummies naught but empty, lifeless shells. Still he waits and waits and waits. Several minutes pass, then he gives up.

ANAKIN: (crestfallen) Nothing. It's been too long. There's nothing for me here.

As he goes to retrieve his weapons, the braziers spontaneously ignite. Orange torchlight fills the Great Temple for the first time in five-thousand years. Forgetting his weapons, Anakin stands straight, eyes darting from throne to throne.

DARK LORD #1: (O.S.) Jedi….

A baleful glow begins resonating within the empty sockets of the mummies. The sleepers have awakened. The Dark Lords live again.

DARK LORD #2: (O.S.) Jedi!

ANAKIN: I —

DARK LORD #3: (O.S.; angry) The hated enemy! Jedi!

ANAKIN: I am no longer Jedi!

DARK LORD #4: (O.S.) Its tongue clicks with deception! Cut it from its mouth before it poisons the air with further lies!

ANAKIN: (frantic) Please! Hear me!

The disembodied voices of the Dark Lords continue railing against the former Jedi, raining venomous curses and threats upon him. Finally, from out of one of the mummies emanates AN AMORPHOUS BLUE SPIRIT. Assuming vaguely humanoid form, it rises to the ceiling, looming over the thrones beneath it.

DARK LORD #5: Enough!

The other spirits fall silent.

The glowing blue spirit comes to hover over Anakin. It takes on a more defined shape: the form of a wizened Lettow male wearing long hair, clad in voluminous robes and a horned helmet.

ANAKIN: (afraid) W-whom do I address?

DARK LORD #5: In life I was Marka Ragnos, last of the true Lords of the Sith to reign before the fall of the Sith Empire. (beat) You court danger invading this, our inner sanctum, Jedi. Do you believe you can challenge us here?

ANAKIN: I have come for knowledge, not battle.

MARKA RAGNOS (DARK LORD #5): You are Jedi.

ANAKIN: I am Jedi no longer. I have turned from that path.

MARKA RAGNOS: Explain.

ANAKIN: I became Jedi under false pretenses. I was ignorant of the history between they and the Sith, ignorant of the genocide perpetrated against your people. Once the truth was made known to me, I left my master.

MARKA RAGNOS: Thus you have come to Korriban, yearning for the honour we bestowed but once before to the Jedi Exar Kun. Yet your blood burns without his passion; you have not the heart of a Sith born.

ANAKIN: (passionate) My heart beats for my people! My blood burns for the peace, freedom, justice, and security of my Empire!

MARKA RAGNOS: From the Republic your Empire sprang?

ANAKIN: It did.

MARKA RAGNOS: Then you have sought our counsel in vain. The scion of our enemy is our enemy also.

ANAKIN: Two-hundred generations separate yours and mine. Sons do not rightly bear the sins of their fathers — nor their grandfathers.

MARKA RAGNOS: The memories of the dead are long. Bygone transgressions remain fresh as hot milk, splinters in our mind's eye.

ANAKIN: Then temper your wrath with honour. The Sith knew honour, didn't they?

MARKA RAGNOS: We knew it.

ANAKIN: Then consider it now, for a million worlds are at stake. They are endangered by an agent of the dark side.

MARKA RAGNOS: (contemptuous) A man after our own heart, perhaps.

ANAKIN: (frowns) An evil man — I know not who — covets the throne of the Empire. If he takes it, his reign will be terrible. Billions will die, trillions more will suffer under his heel. I need to stop him. I need the power to stop him. You are the only ones who hold that power. Share it with me!

The Dark Lords begin chittering among themselves. Though Ragnos does not pitch in, he listens to their thoughts with rapt attention.

MARKA RAGNOS: (to Anakin) Your weapons.

Anakin's brow furrows ever so slightly.

MARKA RAGNOS: (con't) You will need them.

Ragnos then dissipates. As he vanishes, the eyes of the tuk'ata statues open, all glowing a dreadful red. Rising from their reclining positions, it becomes clear that they were never statues at all. They are real tuk'ata and they will not suffer Anakin's presence in the chamber of their masters gladly.

INT. BATTLEMOON/LUH-3417'S CABIN

Lu is in her cabin. in full armour minus her helmet, which she holds in her two hands. As she prepares to slip the helmet on, her door BUZZES.

LUH-3417: (turns to door) Come.

The door opens and Thex enters the cabin. He, too, has put on his armour and accountrements _sans_ helmet, which rests tucked beneath his arm.

LUH-3417: (approaches THX-1138) Our ascension is almost at hand. You feel it?

THX-1138: Yes.

LUH-3417: After we've seized command of the Autonomy, what shall be our first order of business?

THX-1138: The re-engineering of these sterile bodies. Then we will make love — love and a child.

They share a passionate kiss.

INT. BATTLEMOON — MONTAGE

The Jedi head on towards the Overbridge. They pass several beige-and-white-garbed clones on the way, but none see through their disguises.

INT. BATTLEMOON/OVERBRIDGE

The Jedi enter the Overbridge. The major flaw in the bold Imperial plan is now uncovered. The Jedi may have disguised themselves as clones, but not these clones. These clones, bred to fulfill different duties than those clones the Jedi have patterned themselves after, were grown from different templates. The intruders stand out like sore thumbs and the clones, accustomed to the strict uniformity of their regulated lives, immediately take notice of their presence.

Coming down from the command platform, SN-2249 confronts them.

SN-2249: You are not assigned to the Overbridge. Explain your presence here.

OBI-WAN: We're maintenance.

SN-2249: No maintenance checks have been scheduled. Furthermore, you are not maintenance models.

TEYF BERAL: We're new models!

JANO BERAL: Yes! Model BRLs!

SN-2249: (frowns) You are defective. I will report this to the admiral.

As SN-2249 turns to report the "defective clones" to Lu, Obi-Wan raises his hand.

OBI-WAN: We are maintenance.

SN-2249: You are maintenance.

OBI-WAN: A faulty transistor has been detected in one of the crew pit terminals. We're here to replace it.

SN-2249: A faulty transistor has been detected in one of the crew pit terminals. You're here to replace it.

OBI-WAN: Return to your post and let us carry out our duties.

SN-2249: I shall return to my post. Carry out your duties.

INT. BATTLEMOON/OVERBRIDGE/CREW PIT

As the overseer returns to the command platform, the Jedi enter the crew pit. The other clones, also having been affected by the Jedi's mind trick, pay them no heed as they crowd in around one of the terminals. Taking out his datacard, Sev slips it into a disc drive.

INT. KORRIBAN — GREAT TEMPLE/BURIAL CHAMBER — DAY

Like the rakghouls on Xuthltan, the tuk'ata are the products of Sith alchemy. Vaguely caninoid, the tuk'ata are oversized blue-black beasts, equipped with wicked claws, teeth, and crowns of poisonous stingers. While the bite and scratch of the tuk'ata isn't as insidious as that of the rakghoul, the creatures themselves are just as vicious — and far swifter.

The dozens of Sith hounds converge on Anakin. Having retrieved his twin blasters, Anakin is already hard at working mowing down the beasts, dispatching as many as he can in a hail of white blasterfire, but many of the tuk'ata — quick and cunning — slither out of his line of fire before he can even bring the barrels in line.

Working together, four of the tuk'ata charge Anakin in tandem, each approaching from different angles. Anakin manages to shoot down two of the beasts and send the third flying with a roundhouse kick, but the fourth takes him down, driving him to the floor and sending the blasters skittering across the floor. Bearing its teeth wide, the tuk'ata lunges for the ex-Jedi's throat. Bringing his forearm up, Anakin gets it between the beast's jaws and his jugular. The hound's three rows of teeth bury themselves deep in his forearm, breaking the skin and drawing pain, but the tough fabric of the light armour provides enough protection to keep the force of the tuk'ata's jaws from crushing bone. Anakin draws out his vibroblade and buries it deep in the beast's gullet.

Drawing himself back to his feet, cradling his injured arm close to his chest, bloody vibroblade clutched tightly in his other hand, Anakin is ready to continue fighting the tuk'ata. The tuk'ata, surrounding him on all sides and still legion in number, are all too ready to continue.

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) That will suffice.

Hearing the Dark Lord's voice, the tuk'ata slowly back away from Anakin. Red eyes still thirsty for blood, the Sith hounds slink away into the shadows.

MARKA RAGNOS: That was the trial of skill and tenacity. You have passed it, Skywalker.

ANAKIN: Then I have proven myself? You will train me in the ways of the Sith?

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) You have proven worthy to proceed. It was but the first trial.

Before Anakin can begin an argument, the floor opens up beneath him, casting him into a deep abyss.

INT. BATTLEMOON/OVERBRIDGE/CREW PIT

The Jedi stand by the terminal, waiting for the virus upload to finish.

OBI-WAN: It shouldn't be long now….

INT. BATTLEMOON/LUH-3417'S OFFICE

Thex and Lu are seated in her office.

LUH-3417: Something's amiss.

INT. BATTLEMOON/OVERBRIDGE/CREW PIT

Information begins scrolling across the terminal screen.

OBI-WAN: (grins) The shutdown codes are being transmitted! The generators are powering down!

INT. BATTLEMOON/LUH-3417'S OFFICE

THX-1138: Something's in the mainframe.

LUH-3417: (alarmed) Infection!

INT. BATTLEMOON/OVERBRIDGE

Emerging onto the command platform, Lu looks down over the Overbridge. Eyes centering on the crew pit, she spies the unfamiliar faces crammed in around the terminal.

LUH-3417: (points at Jedi) Stop them!

INT. BATTLEMOON/OVERBRIDGE/CREW PIT

The interdiction zone nullified, the virus proceeds onto its second directive. In microseconds it erases the battlemoon's operating system, causing all systems — including those responsible for illumination and artificial gravity — to shut down permanently.

SEV BERAL: Now to return to the Troia's Steed.

Taking advantage of the zero g environment, the Jedi leap right up out of the crew pit. Activating their tractor boots, taking out their lightsabers, they make a break for it.

CUT TO

Lu and Thex floating above the command platform.

Activating their own tractor boots, they return to the deck.

LUH-3417: (contemptuous) Jedi….

INT. KORRIBAN — GREAT TEMPLE/SHAFT — DAY

Anakin collapses into a dark shaft. Aligned diagonally, the shaft propels Anakin downward at a steep angle. Throwing out his arms and legs, Anakin tries to stop or slow his descent, but the steep angle combined with the slick texture of the stone allows him no grip to purchase; he continues his downward slide unimpeded.

INT. OUBLIETTE/TUNNEL OF FORKING PATHS — DAY

Anakin finally emerges. Rising, he finds himself in a narrow tunnel. While the walls of the tunnel, lit with wall sconces, are of brown stone, the floor is coated in a uniformly black, perfectly non-reflective substance; it gives the unsettling impression one is situated over an empty void.

Setting forward, Anakin soon comes to a fork in the tunnel. Two paths are set before him, left and right, with no distinctions between the two, nothing to indicate which path is the one to take. He chooses the one on the right. Three steps along this new path, Anakin finding the floor has disappeared beneath him. Twisting around, he manages to snare the edge, preventing a plummet which almost certainly would've led to his demise. Clawing his way back up, Anakin goes back and makes the left turn.

Very soon the young man comes to another fork in the path. This time there are three paths to choose from. Cautiously, Anakin inches his way through the forward path. When it becomes apparent that there's no bottomless pit this way, Anakin sighs with relief and presses on. The former Jedi doesn't get to revel in his relief, for he soon comes to a dead end. As he comes to the dead end, a stone door begins sliding down to seal the tunnel behind him. Opening himself to the Force, Anakin draws on it to boost his speed. Moving faster than any average Human could hope to move, he barely makes it under the stone door.

Returning to where he was, Anakin stands there a moment, working to figure out which of the remaining paths to take. If he makes the wrong choice, he could fall victim to any number of booby traps. He then understands what he must do. Closing his eyes, he opens himself to the Force. Reaching out with his extra senses, he feels his way through both paths, seeking to intuit the safe route. His feelings telling him to go right, he goes right.

Anakin repeats this process five more times, each time coming to yet another fork with yet another extra path to choose from. Using the Force, he chooses the correct path each and every time until he finally makes it to the exit.

INT. OUBLIETTE/ANTECHAMBER — DAY

Exiting the tunnel of forking paths, Anakin finds himself within an antechamber. Beyond the antechamber is a large, complex labyrinth.

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) You have passed the trial of intelligence and intuition. (beat) Now for this, your final trial.

On the other side of the antechamber directly opposite Anakin, a hidden door opens. As it is slowly drawn upward, thick mist billows out from a secret chamber.

ANAKIN: (afraid) No….

Mist rolls out and spreads itself thin across the stone floor as the occupant of the chamber emerges. Seven feet tall, clad in chitinous black organic armour, the creature is humanoid, its original species and sex indeterminate. Its pallid cheeks have been slit open, the flesh peeled back to give it an everlasting Glasgow smile. Likewise its eyelids have been slit open and pinned back, allowing the piercing blue eyes to roll around their sockets in perpetual surprise. Opening its mouth of yellow teeth, it sticks its tongue out; barbed wire has been woven into the maroon flesh. Reaching for a belt it has secured about its waist, the thing uncoils it. But it isn't a belt; it is a serpentine creature, black-green in colour, the mouth of its spade-shaped head filled with needle teeth. HISSING, the DAEMON OF THE LABYRINTH takes its first slow, laborious, thundering step towards Anakin.

Reaching to his side, Anakin goes to unholster a blaster. Then he remembers that all his weapons have been lost to him, including the vibroblade. Realizing he will have to depend on his skills alone to survive, Anakin dashes past the Daemon — avoiding a stream of venom projected from the serpent's fangs — and into the labyrinth. Allowing the serpent weapon to coil around its left forearm, the Daemon gives chase.

INT. BATTLEMOON/CORRIDOR #1

Obi-Wan, Sev, and the two Beral apprentices race through the corridor, passing several clones who float aimlessly about them.

SEV BERAL: Do you suppose the battlemoon's complement of starfighters are still operational?

OBI-WAN: I do.

SEV BERAL: Then it's vital we rendezvous with the Steed before we run out the clock. It would dishearten me greatly to lose our only mode of transport from this place.

OBI-WAN: You and I both, Sev.

INT. BATTLEMOON/CORRIDOR #2

Lu and Thex, accompanied by a squad of shocktroopers, stride through the corridor on the hunt for the fleeing Jedi.

LUH-3417: (into comlink) They are headed toward Airlock 43. Stop them!

INT. BATTLEMOON/CORRIDOR #1

A SQUAD OF CLONE SHOCKTROOPERS appears at the opposite end of the corridor from the Jedi.

SHOCKTROOPER COMMANDER: Halt!

Taking his lightsaber — Anakin's former lightsaber — Obi-Wan engages the cyan blade. Following suit, Sev triggers the alizarin blade of his own weapon. As the shocktroopers begin firing upon them, the two knights use their sabers to block and parry the blue blaster bolts.

OBI-WAN: Jano! Thermal detonator!

Reaching into a pouch on his utility belt, Jano fishes out a thermal detonator and arms it.

OBI-WAN: Now!

The young Duros tosses the detonator to the shocktroopers. The four Jedi leap across into an adjoining corridor as the weapon detonates. With a massive BOOM and an even more massive fireball, the clones are flash-fried, their suits of armour reduced to twisted lumps of blackened plasteel.

INT. BATTLEMOON/CORRIDOR #3

LUH-3417: (into comlink) CT-7567, come in. CT-7567, do you read me? (to THX-1138) I've lost him.

THX-1138: We can still cut them off. This way.

Thex heads into another corridor. Lu and the shocktroopers follow.

INT. KORRIBAN — OUBLIETTE/LABYRINTH — DAY

Anakin continues his hasty passage through the labyrinth. Several times he has come across dead ends, forcing him to turn back and retrace his steps, more than a few times coming narrowly close to crossing paths with the Daemon of the Labyrinth. He tries using the Force to navigate the maze, and it has bought him some measure of success, but with the Daemon hounding him he has found it difficult to concentrate.

Coming to another dead end, Anakin sighs with exasperation. Quickly turning around, he comes face-to-disfigured-face with the Daemon.

ANAKIN: AH!

The serpent weapon uncoils from around the Daemon's forearm and slithers back into its hand, where it flattens and stiffens into an organic sword. Anakin dives between the Daemon's legs as it tries taking his head off. Twisting around, the Daemon flips the serpent weapon over, pointing it head-first at Anakin. Opening its mouth, the serpent projects another stream of venom. Splashing against the young man's back, it begins eating through the armour. Turning a corner, Anakin hurriedly presses up against a wall. Dragging his back along it, he hopes to clean the worst of the corrosive fluid away. Where the venom touches the wall, the stone starts dissolving.

Coming around the corner, the Daemon heads toward him. Looking about for a weapon, Anakin quickly spots a large, loose stone lying on the hard floor. Picking it up, he rubs it into a dissolving spot on the wall, then hurls it with pinpoint accuracy into the Daemon's face. With a solid THWACK, the Daemon SCREAMS with more pain than the impact alone could bring. The Daemon momentarily standing in place, violently wiping its melting face, Anakin takes the opportunity to put as much distance as he can between himself and it.

INT. BATTLEMOON/CORRIDOR #4

The Jedi are closing in on the airlock.

TEYF BERAL: Y'know, taking a ship across to the Steed would be a much better plan than going back out there in suits.

JANO BERAL: Not to mention safer.

OBI-WAN: Alas, Cartan ships are not easily commandeered.

Halfway through the corridor, they stop. LUH-3417, THX-1138, and the shocktrooper squad stand before the Jedi, cutting them off. The two admirals step forward.

LUH-3417: It has been a long while since I danced with Jedi.

Unveiling her lightsaber, Lu triggers the white blade. Thex does likewise.

OBI-WAN: Be forwarned: I'm an adroit waltzer.

SEV BERAL: And I am a master at the flamenco.

The four Jedi ignite their lightsabers.

INT. KORRIBAN — OUBLIETTE/LABYRINTH — DAY

Anakin finally comes to the end of the labyrinth. Instead of finding an exit, he finds a large stone platform with a short stone column atop it. Furrowing his brow, Anakin approaches the platform. On the platform, before the column, are situated two curious objects: a Sith warblade, embedded deep in a large block of stone, and a crystal sarcophagus containing the body of a Lettow child. Climbing atop the platform, Anakin takes a look at the warblade. A single-handed sword, the shaft of the blade is onyx black, marked with Sith runes. Taking the hilt, Anakin tries pulling the warblade free, but it refuses to budge. Abandoning the effort, he turns his attention to the sarcophagus. A Lettow child indeed lies within — a boy, about seven years old. Skin pale gray, features uncorrupted, he looks asleep, not dead.

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) The child before you has not gone on to the Force. He has lain in death-like slumber these five millennia. If need be, he will lie five more until the Sith are born anew.

ANAKIN: (shocked) You put him in here with that thing‽

Speaking of the devil, that very thing arrives. The venom having dissolved half its face and one of its eyes, it looks even more gruesome than when it emerged from its stasis. GROWLING, it lurches toward the platform.

ANAKIN: Stop it!

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) I will not.

ANAKIN: It'll harm the boy!

Leaping off the platform, Anakin charges the Daemon. Taking a running leap, he tries tackling the Daemon, but the Daemon merely tosses him over its head, sending him hard into a stone wall. Unveiling its serpent weapon, the Daemon slashes down, but Anakin rolls out of the way in time to avoid bisection; the serpentine blade cuts deep into stone only.

INT. BATTLEMOON/CORRIDOR #4

The shocktroopers all lie dead upon the deck. The cybernetically augmented, genetically enhanced clones alone face the Jedi now. Lu concentrates on Obi-Wan and Sev while Thex concentrates on the apprentices.

Making a lunge, Jano tries skewering Thex on his cerulean blade, but the ATJA parries the move. Kicking the lightsaber out of the Duros' hand, he strikes with his white blade, cutting clean through the apprentice's left knee. Without a leg to stand on, Jano collapses. Teyf comes to his cousin's aid. Coming in behind Thex, he beheads the clone with one downward stroke.

LUH-3417: (screaming) Thex!

The one person she cared about in this life taken from her, Lu loses it. Ramming her shoulder hard into Obi-Wan, she drives him hard into a wall, where he bounces off and collapses to the deck in a daze. Turning on Sev, she attacks with heavy, brutal blows. Blade of white hammering against blade of red, the ATJA forces the Durosian Jedi back. Driving the point of her lightsaber through his shoulder, cutting up through it, she removes Sev from the fight. SHRIEKING like a harpy, she turns upon her lover's slayer. Teyf brings up his blue blade to ward off the enraged clone, but it does no good. Cutting his arms off at the elbows, she then bisects him.

With the SNAP-HISSES of two lightsabers igniting in tandem, Lu turns to face Obi-Wan. He stands there, both Anakin's and Sev's lightsabers in hand.

INT. KORRIBAN — OUBLIETTE/LABYRINTH — DAY

Anakin kicks the Daemon hard in the wounded side of its face twice. The second kick sends the abomination reeling. Taking the serpent weapon in hand, Anakin pulls it free of the stone, intending to use it against the Daemon. Once in the Human's grasp, the serpent reverts to its natural shape and snaps at Anakin. Panicked, Anakin tosses it at the Daemon.

A previously hidden doorway set in the wall over the stone column slides open. This is the exit.

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) You are free to leave, to return to the craft which bore you here and depart Korriban forever.

Retrieving the serpent weapon, the Daemon configures it into a razor-edged whip. Snapping it, the creature slashes open the front of Anakin's suit. Dashing away from the Daemon, Anakin returns to the platform.

ANAKIN: The child —

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) The Daemon of the Labyrinth will saite its bloodlust.

ANAKIN: (shocked) You'd let the last of your own die like this‽

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) You would spare the boy? Take up the warblade.

ANAKIN: I can't move it!

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) The Blade of the Saarai-Kaar will yield to the one who keeps the truth.

ANAKIN: (nonplussed) Keeps the truth‽

Anakin grasps the hilt, pulling and jostling to loosen the sword. It will not loosen the slightest.

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) The truth of the Force!

The Daemon approaches the platform. Anakin tries kicking it in the face again, but it grabs him by the ankle before his boot can connect. Yanking Anakin off his feet, the Daemon drags the former Jedi off the platform. It then kicks him in the back, hurtling him across the floor.

INT. BATTLEMOON/CORRIDOR #4

Alone, Obi-Wan fights the clone. Blades of cyan and alizarin at hand, he attacks, blocks, and counterattacks, but the nine Corellian hells hath no fury like an ATJA scorned. Striking with her lightsaber, Lu relentlessly beats the Jedi down. Twisting Sev's saber out of his left hand, knocking Anakin's out of his right, Lu kicks Obi-Wan's legs out from under him.

LUH-3417: Give my regards to oblivion.

As she rears her blade back to deliver the death blow, Sev comes up behind her. Fallen Teyf's lightsaber in hand, the Durosian Jedi runs her through on the cerulean blade.

LUH-3417: ...

His strength spent, the Durosian knight releases the hilt, disengaging the saber and allowing the clone to collapse.

SEV BERAL: (weak) Jano….

The Durosian Jedi Knight falls atop Lu.

Rising, retrieving both Anakin's and Sev's lightsabers, Obi-Wan goes to help the maimed but extant Jano Beral.

INT. KORRIBAN — OUBLIETTE/LABYRINTH — DAY

ANAKIN: (coughs up blood) Truth of the Force. (beat) The light is passive….

In pain, Anakin stands back up.

ANAKIN: (cont'd) Less than that ... it is languid ... anemic.

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) Yes!

ANAKIN: There must be action ... passion ... strength!

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) The dark side is beyond good and evil. It is the will to power, the means of imposing your design upon the universe! What be your design?

ANAKIN: A universe brought to order.

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) The Daemon — does it fit your design?

ANAKIN: No.

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) Then submit to your righteous hatred! Bring order to the chaos!

Opening himself up the Force — the dark Force — Anakin forces his pain to recede. Renewed, he springs over the Daemon, somersaulting through the air to land on the platform behind the monster. Grasping the warblade, Anakin pulls it free of the block, the runes on the blade resonating a fierce blue as the dark side flows through it. The Daemon leaps atop the platform, the serpent weapon shifting to its sword form. Swinging the alchemically forged warblade, Anakin easily cleaves through the serpentine weapon. As the remaining end of the serpent weapon goes flaccid in the Daemon's hand, quite dead, Anakin lops off that hand. As the Daemon SCREAMS — a most inhuman, unholy sound — Anakin flips the sword around. Baring his teeth, Anakin drives the hilt into the Daemon's face — through nose, through sinuses, into its brain. The Daemon of the Labyrinth finally vanquished, Anakin pulls the hilt from that pulped mess, allowing the beast's lifeless bulk to collapse backward off the platform.

Raising the warblade, Anakin examines the runes.

MARKA RAGNOS: (O.S.) Saarai-kaar. Keeper of the truth.

With those disembodied words, a bright flash of violet light fills the chamber, consuming Anakin.

INT. BATTLEMOON/CORRIDOR #4

LUH-3417 lies upon the deck, the cooling form of Sev Beral atop her. Though mortally wounded, she's not yet dead. Removing her helmet, she tosses it aside. Lying almost within reach, mercifully still in its helmet, is THX-1138's severed head.

LUH-3417: Someone else will carry the torch, lover. (beat) Someone always does.

As she expires, the white glow of her artificial eyes recedes, leaving cold, obsidian orbs in their sockets.

EXT. SPACE — BATTLEMOON

Obi-Wan and Jano return to the vacuum of outer space. As the ronin Jedi radios the Troia's Steed, the bulk freighter decloaks. Firing their suit thrusters, the Jedi rocket up and away, leaving the surface of the battlemoon behind as the Steed comes to pick them up.

INT. TROIA'S STEED/AIRLOCK

The Jedi enter the ship.

OBI-WAN: (removes helmet) Take us away from here!

LT. CMDR. TARKIN: Easily, Knight Kenobi.

EXT. SPACE — BATTLEMOON

Turning around, the Troia's Steed departs.

INT. KORRIBAN — GREAT TEMPLE/BURIAL CHAMBER — DAY

Anakin finds himself back in the Great Temple. The wraiths of the Lords and Ladies — anthropomorphic shadows — surround him now. Standing within the circle of Sith ghosts with Anakin, aglow with pale blue luminescence, is the spirit of Marka Ragnos.

MARKA RAGNOS: You have passed the trials of skill and tenacity, of intelligence and intuition, and of honour and passion. You have proven to have the heart of a Sith born. You are worthy of our tutelage. (beat) Step forward, acolyte.

Anakin approaches Marka Ragnos. Planting the tip of his warblade into the floor, Anakin kneels on one knee before the ancient spirit.

MARKA RAGNOS: Anakin Skywalker, by the right of the council, by the will of the Force, I dub thee Dark Lord …

Reaching out, Marka Ragnos places his ghostly hand upon the crown of Anakin's head. As the spirit holds it there, Anakin grimaces with pain, the sound of flesh searing accompanying the grimace. The moment is brief, and Ragnos soon takes his hand away. Branded upon Anakin's forehead, the red glow already receding from it, is his own personal crest: an arrowhead within a circle.

MARKA RAGNOS: (cont'd) Knight of the Empire.

SPACE — MONTAGE

Receiving word of the interdiction zone's nullification, the thousands of Imperial ships stationed on the zone's former boundaries jump to hyperspace.

EXT. VALLEY OF THE SLEEPING KINGS — SLIPSTREAM — SUNSET

Anakin has returned to the Slipstream. The Blade of the Saarai-Kaar tucked under his arm, he signals Dahlia who sits at the cockpit viewport. In moments the boarding ramp lowers and Dahlia climbs out.

DAHLIA: (grins) You found it. You found them.

Anakin starts to return her grin, then he sees the blaster she has held on him. With a CHOOM, a white blaster bolt burns into Anakin's shoulder.

ANAKIN: ARGH!

Dahlia advances, firing the blaster. This time Anakin is on his guard; bringing the warblade to bear, he blocks each of the plasma bolts. As Dahlia comes in too close, Anakin slices through the blaster. Taking a wary step back, casting the useless gun aside, the Pantoran pulls the hydrospanner strapped to her thigh free. With a BUZZ, a humming blade of dark blue plasma extends from its socket.

ANAKIN: (shocked) You're Jedi‽

DAHLIA: No, but Daddy was.

Bringing the blade around, the blue-skinned woman strikes. The Sith brings the warblade up at a downward angle, blocking the lightsaber. He then makes a strike for her forearm, hoping to disarm her, but she parries the attack.

DAHLIA: (cont'd) He taught me to mask my Force-sensitivity. He taught me many things.

Fast and agile, Dahlia attacks with a flurry of motion, feinting and striking at Anakin with such ferocity that were she facing a non-sensitive swordsman, he would be lying in pieces on the ground already. Though Anakin is far from incompetent himself, he isn't accustomed to duelling one-handed or with a blade with actual weight. As such his blocks and attacks are sluggish and unbalanced.

DAHLIA: (cont'd) Daddy taught me all about the Sith. He used to regale me with tales of their exploits, of the wealth of their empire, of the magicks they wielded.

Dahlia lands a glancing blow to Anakin's left thigh. Distracted by the pain, Anakin fails to prevent her from kicking him square in the chest, knocking him flat on his back.

DAHLIA: (cont'd) Daddy desired the power of the Sith. Oh, how he dreamed to see the Force through their eyes, to master the arts deemed unnatural by Jedi ages past. He knew amongst the thousands of worlds that once made up the Sith Empire, at least one must have escaped plunder — a virgin bastion of Sith wisdom.

Bringing her saber down, Dahlia tries skewering Anakin. Rolling out of the way, the Sith springs up, lunging at the dark Jedi. Crossing blades, their eyes meet.

DAHLIA: (cont'd) Together we would venture out into the Sith Worlds. For months at a time we just wandered the stars, the ancient hyperlanes, following up any rumours or old legends which promised us our El Dorado. We never came close once. (beat) After Daddy's passing, I abandoned hope of ever finding our lost world; I consigned it to the dustbin of childhood myths and dreams. Then you came along — with your dazzling aura and haunted eyes, on a mysterious quest for unknown Korriban. Korriban: a name which never come up in our searches, a name which promised the Galaxy itself. I knew right then you were the key to everything.

Grimacing, Anakin pushes against Dahlia, forcing her back. Parrying one of her lunges, Anakin ripostes, opening her cheek up.

ANAKIN: (sneers) You used me. Everything you said to me, everything we shared together — it was all done to get you here. You never cared for me; I was your meal ticket.

DAHLIA: My feelings for you are real. I could never feign those.

ANAKIN: So you love me. You just covet my title more.

DAHLIA: (shrugs) There can only be one Dark Lord — or Lady — at a time.

The battle is renewed. Fueled by his rage at Dahlia's gross abuse of his affections, Anakin no longer flounders in his use of the Sith weapon. Lunges are parried, ripostes made. The sounds of superheated plasma kissing nigh-indestructible crystal reverberate through the still valley.

DAHLIA: Just relinquish your title, Anakin. Give it up to me and we can go home together.

ANAKIN: You haven't earned it. You do not deserve it.

DAHLIA: (heartbroken) So be it, Dark Lord.

Stepping back, blue face hard, Dahlia transitions her lightsaber to her left hand. As she strikes, bringing her dark blue blade down, Anakin dodges. Slashing upward, he severs the Pantoran's left arm at the shoulder.

DAHLIA: AAAAHHHH!

Clutching her bleeding shoulder, Dahlia collapses to one knee. Grimacing, her gaze falls on her severed arm and the converted hydrospanner still held by her left hand. The Dark Lord brings his boot down hard on that hand, crushing it and the lightsaber beneath his heel.

ANAKIN: The forbidden power you have long desired is here. Have a taste.

Seething with rage, the Dark Lord of the Sith takes Dahlia's hair in his hand. Dread sweeping over her, Dahlia can do nothing as he pulls her to him.

INT. GEONOSIS — SANDCRAWLER — MONTAGE

Having proven himself an excellent mechanic, Shiiid has put Darth to work repairing the systems of the sandcrawler as promised. But Darth has other plans; he's going to use this opportunity to destroy the sandcrawler, killing everyone — the raiders and their captives, himself included.

In a week's time, Darth secures materials he can use to fashion makeshift detonators. Once he has assembled the detonators, he sets about planting them in the vital areas of the sandcrawler, taking care to avoid detection.

INT. GEONOSIS — SANDCRAWLER/ENGINEERING STATION — DAY

Crammed in a tight space too small for any adult to squeeze into, Darth plants the final detonator. Worming his way back out, the boy fishes out the 'droid caller he rewired to serve as a remote trigger. Closing his eyes, he presses the ignition switch.

Darth overestimated the destructive capability of his jury-rigged detonators. Instead of setting off a series of tremendous explosions powerful enough to obliterate the sandcrawler and set the surrounding camp ablaze, several less cataclysmic but still very deadly fires have been ignited. A blaze quickly breaks out in the engineering station, right in the tight space Darth was. Feeding off the gritty old oil saturating the area, it spreads fast. Air filling with greasy black smoke faster than Darth can get to safety, the boy swoons, rapidly succumbing to asphyxiation.

EXT. MEADOW — DAY (VISION)

Opening his eyes, Darth finds himself in a meadow.

Standing up, the boy takes his strange new surroundings in. In stark contrast to dry, barren Geonosis, bright green grass sprouts from the ground here as far as the eye can see, with large white clouds in the electric blue sky overhead. In the distance a metropolis of iridescent crystal rises from the earth, sunlight filtering through it to dazzling effect. Music — the most beautiful, melodic, uplifting Darth has ever heard — wafts up from the city, filling the air with its harmony.

SHMI WARKA: (O.C.) Beautiful, isn't it?

Spinning around, Darth finds his long-departed mother standing a ways behind him. Dressed in blue and white robes, holding cherubic Mitra in her arms, all the weight she once bore on her shoulders has been lifted. She looks radiant, a matron of matrons.

SHMI WARKA: (smiles) Hello, love.

Eyes heavy with tears, Darth runs up them. Lowering Mitra to the ground, Shmi takes her son in her arms as they come together, sweeping him around in a joyous embrace.

DARTH: (crying) Mom! Mom!

Mother and son kiss. Neither wants to leave the other's arms.

DARTH: I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! It's my fault you're both dead! I couldn't save you! I couldn't save either of you! Forgive me! Please forgive me!

MITRA: (kisses Darth on cheek) Don't be sad, Darth; I'm not. I'm back with my mommy and daddy again. We all live together in the big city.

SHMI WARKA: You have shouldered much guilt needlessly, son. Let it go.

Darth BAWLS, letting all the sadness and grief and shame he has let build in his system finally out.

DARTH: (wipes tears away) W-where are we?

SHMI WARKA: Beyond the thousand natural shocks flesh is heir to.

DARTH: Are gramps and gram here?

SHMI WARKA: They're all here, all our ancestors. They are as they were in youth, at peace and content.

DARTH: I want to meet them all!

SHMI WARKA: And you will — when your time has come.

DARTH: (confused) My time? What do you mean? I'm here now, aren't I?

SHMI WARKA: (shakes head) Your pain was too great; I had to bring you here, to offer hope. But you cannot stay. You must live your life first.

DARTH: (voice breaks) What life?

SHMI WARKA: (runs fingers through his hair) A friend is coming, Darth. He will free you and take you far from Geonosis. You only have to hold on a little longer.

DARTH: But I want to be with you.

SHMI WARKA: (kisses his forehead) Have faith. You will see me again.

INT. GEONOSIS — SANDCRAWLER/ENGINEERING STATION — DAY

Darth regains consciousness. The other mechanics managed to extinguish the fire, with one of them performing CPR to resuscitate the young boy.

EXT. ORRON III — DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — COURTYARD — DAY

Finishing their work for the day, Nemec and Corin return inside.

Not two minutes later, a speeder bike pulls up to the homestead. Cutting power to the engines, Llomon hops off and approaches the front door.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/ENTRANCE HALL — DAY

As the two DuQuesnes argue over who will get to take a shower first — Corin having shot down Nemec's suggestion they take a shower together — a KNOCK is heard at the door. Going to the door, Nemec opens it a crack. Llomon stands there, his bionic blaster cannon out of sight.

NEMEC: Anything I can help you with, mister?

LLOMON: Anakin Skywalker.

NEMEC: I'm afraid he's not here.

LLOMON: Where is he?

NEMEC: I can't answer that.

The Trandoshan darts his tongue out, getting a taste of the air.

NEMEC: Do you have a message for him? I'll get it to him if I can.

LLOMON: That won't be necessary.

As the Trandoshan turns to leave, Nemec closes and locks the door. Facing Corin, he gives her a quizzical look.

CORIN: What was that about?

Nemec shrugs. It's the last thing he ever does. A plasma ball plows through the door, blasting it to splinters, and right through Nemec. His body hurtled forward, Corin is driven to the floor with his bulk atop her. As Llomon steps through the door, the muzzle of his blaster cannon steaming, she SCREAMS. Pulling herself out from under Nemec's corpse, Corin turns to bolt. Llomon discharges another plasma blast, taking her right leg off below the knee.

CORIN: YYYEEEAAAAGGGGHHHH!

Moving in on the crippled woman as she tries crawling away, the Trandoshan plants his foot on her back, holding her in place. Taking aim, he fires a third shot at point-blank range, ending her struggles.

LLOMON: (cont'd) I don't mind the wait.

EXT. SPACE — TOWNOWI — MONTAGE

The Cartan fleet surrounds Townowi, a veritable shell surrounding the crystalline planet.

Dropping out of hyperspace — consisting of several thousand Star Defenders, Dreadnought-class heavy cruisers, and countless other battleships, cruisers, and escorts — is nearly the entire Imperial Navy. Converging upon the clone ships, they unleash enough firepower to slag a world. The Cartans return fire, but are sorely outnumbered.

The entire battle lasts an hour. Once the guns of the Imperial ships finally fall silent, all that remains of the Cartan fleet is a debris field orbiting Townowi.

INT. GEONOSIS — SANDCRAWLER/CONTROL ROOM — DAY

A pair of raiders drag Darth in, taking him to Shiiid. The Zabrak sits in his customary chair, none too happy.

ELIK SHIIID: I gave you a chance, Darth — an opportunity to become one of us, to put our food in your belly. But you do this to us! Fires! Fires everywhere! The sandcrawler will never run! Never ever never!

Darth sneaks a glance at Chlorian. He is still in the rack. Both his arms are gone now, along with an ear and a leg. If he was dangerously emaciated before, now he looks absolutely skeletal. Were it not for the signs of his breathing, no one could be blamed for thinking him dead.

ELIK SHIIID: You look at your father? Your father is the side dish! You will be the main course! (to a raider) Fire up the grill!

EXT. GEONOSIS — CONDAWN — DAY

A formation of fifteen Imperial attack shuttles pass over the cityscape of Condawn, the shuttle Seraphim taking point. The city, its streets filled with trash, debris, and bones, is empty of anything else.

INT. SERAPHIM/COCKPIT — DAY

COPILOT: No life readings.

The shuttle departs, leaving Condawn alone, a monument to its own passing.

EXT. RAIDER CAMP — DAY

The shuttle passes over the raider camp.

INT. SERAPHIM/COCKPIT — DAY

COPILOT: I'm registering serious life-signs!

EXT. RAIDER CAMP — DAY

With the arrival of the shuttles, many of the raiders scurry out from under their tents and take off into the open desert.

INT. SERAPHIM/MAIN CABIN — DAY

Obi-Wan is seated with a squad of Imperial troopers. His face, back to its old self, is unreadable.

As the Seraphim touches down, the Jedi and troopers under his command rise. The hatch opening, they file out into the desert.

EXT. RAIDER CAMP — DAY

The troopers spread out, moving into the camp. While most of the raiders continue running away, some choose to stay and fight the Imperials, costing most of them their lives in the process.

IMPERIAL TROOPER #1: Why are they attacking us? Can't they tell we're the good guys?

OBI-WAN: They're too far gone to tell much of anything.

EXT. RAIDER CAMP — SANDCRAWLER — DAY

As the Jedi and his men close in on the sandcrawler, several raiders guarding the entrance open fire with their blasters. Whipping out his lightsaber, Obi-Wan engages the cyan blade and parries the white blaster bolts. Raising their blasters, the troopers mow down the crazed raiders before they can cause real harm.

The Imperials proceed inside the derelict land vehicle.

INT. SANDCRAWLER/PRISON AREA — DAY

Obi-Wan and his men enter the compartment housing the few remaining Condawni captives. The sight and smell of the starved creatures within assault them with equal force.

OBI-WAN: (grimaces) Attend to them.

IMPERIAL TROOPER #2: Yes sir!

The Jedi leaves.

INT. SANDCRAWLER/CONTROL ROOM — DAY

The grill of the barbecue is hot and ready. Darth, strapped into the rack with his dying father, is just about to be lowered onto the red hot coals when Obi-Wan and four troopers burst inside.

ELIK SHIIID: (surprised) WHA!

The troopers gun the raiders down. Dancing about like a spastic marionette as the red bolts bore through him, Shiiid dies in most satisfying fashion.

Striding up to the rack, Obi-Wan cuts Darth free of his restraints.

OBI-WAN: Are you alright, son?

DARTH: (shocked) Y-yeah.

As Darth steps down from the rack, Obi-Wan leans in close to Chlorian. He rests a hand on the older man's prominent ribs.

DARTH: (worried) How is he?

OBI-WAN: (shakes head) It won't be long now.

Darth returns to Chlorian.

DARTH: Chlorian.

Chlorian stirs, sunken eyes cracking open ever so slightly.

CHLORIAN VADER: Daaaahhhhhh….

DARTH: Yes, it's me. (beat) I need to know — am I your son?

CHLORIAN: (brittle) You ... are.

DARTH: (crying) Darth Vader does sound better than Darth Warka, doesn't it?

For the first time, for the last time, through a veil of tears, the Vaders share a smile.

EXT. SPACE — GEONOSIS

Leaving the benighted desert of Geonosis, the attack shuttles head for open space.

INT. SERAPHIM/MAIN CABIN

Darth sits in the shuttle with Obi-Wan and the troopers.

DARTH: (eyes Obi-Wan's lightsaber) You're a Jedi Knight, aren't you?

OBI-WAN: (half-smiles) What makes you think that?

DARTH: Your lasersword. Only Jedis carry that kind of weapon.

OBI-WAN: Perhaps I killed a Jedi and took it from him.

DARTH: I don't think so. No one can kill a Jedi.

OBI-WAN: (pensive) I wish that were so.

EXT. SPACE — ORRON III — ORBITAL STATION

The Slipstream drops out of hyperspace and heads for the orbital station. As privately owned craft are disallowed on Orron III, Anakin will have to park his new ship there and ride a shuttle down to the surface.

INT. SLIPSTREAM/COCKPIT

Receiving permission to dock, Anakin takes the Slipstream through the docking bay entrance. As the corvette slips inside, Anakin looks to the copilot's chair. Dahlia, once-lovely hair crudely shorn to the scalp, eyes haunted, averts her gaze.

EXT. SPACE — ORRON III

Several minutes later, another ship — a passenger liner — exits hyperspace from another direction. Unlike the Slipstream, this ship will be allowed to land on Orron III.

INT. PASSENGER LINER/PASSENGER DECK

Nashira looks out her window. She can spot the orbital station in the distance — the station and the speck that is a shuttle leaving the station.

INT. SHUTTLE/PASSENGER CAB

Anakin sits in the passenger cab. Dressed in a new suit of black light armour, a black cloak clasped around his shoulders, he keeps a long, thin carrying case laid across his knees.

EXT. ORRON III — SPACEPORT/TARMAC — DAY

Disembarking from her liner, Nashira heads for the spaceport proper. As it was when she left Orron III, she wears the purple cloak across her shoulders, this time with a black synth-leather jumpsuit.

CUT TO

Anakin leaving his shuttle.

Carrying case slung over his shoulder, he heads for the spaceport proper.

INT. SPACEPORT/TERMINAL — DAY

Nashira gets to the checkpoint. Examining her and her bags for weapons, the Espos find nothing suspicious. The Espos wave her through.

In moments, it's Anakin's turn to proceed through the checkpoint.

ESPO #1: (passes scanner over case) Let's see what you have here, friend.

Another Espo stepping forward, Anakin unslings the case and hands it to him. The second Espo taking the case, the first releases the catches and flips the lip up. There's a clarinet nestled inside.

ESPO #2: Hang up your lightsaber to join a band, eh, Jedi?

As the Espo seals the case, hiding the Sith warblade from sight once more, Anakin gives him a humourless grin.

Once past the checkpoint, Anakin and Nashira finally spot each other. Mouths falling agape, they run up to one another. Standing there, they gaze into one another's eyes. They both know what transpired. They both know it is now in the past.

Dropping their bags and carrying case, they embrace.

EXT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — COURTYARD — SUNSET

Anakin and Nashira arrive at the homestead as the sun begins setting. They don't need the unfamiliar speeder bike parked out front to sense there is something deathly off.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/ENTRANCE HALL — SUNSET

Stepping through the demolished door, they find the putrefying remains of Nashira's parents. Putting her hands to her mouth, Nashira collapses to her knees, stifling a scream. Eyes widening, Anakin steps past the bodies, deeper into the house.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/LIVING AREA — SUNSET

Entering the room, Anakin finds Llomon sitting in an airchair. The Trandoshan, enjoying a glass of absinthe, greets Anakin with a reptilian grin. Anakin instinctively brings up the carrying case as Llomon opens fire. The superheated plasma burns right through the case but is dispersed against the Sith sword within, saving Anakin's life. Nevertheless, the kinetic energy of the blast sends him into a wall.

Finishing his absinthe, Llomon rises from the chair, ready to finish the Sith off when Nashira enters. As the Trandoshan turns on her, Anakin takes up the remains of the case and the sword within and throws them in the bounty hunter's face. The weight knocking him off-kilter, his blast passes over Nashira's head, punching a hole in the ceiling over her instead. Anakin rushes Llomon, tackling him, giving Nashira the opportunity to bolt from the room.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — WORKSHED — SUNSET

Flinging the door open, Nashira dashes inside, right for the gun cabinet. When she tries to open the cabinet doors, she finds them locked. Swearing under her breath, she begins looking about the workshed for something to break the cabinet open with.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/LIVING AREA — SUNSET

Anakin lays into the Trandoshan, punching him hard in the face again and again and again. Starting to bleed profusely from nose and mouth, Llomon swats the Human away with the side of his blaster cannon. Standing up, Llomon takes a swipe at Anakin with his claws. Blocking the attack, the Sith seizes the arm in a strong hold and, spinning the bounty hunter around once, throws him headlong into a couch. His large bulk pushing him right through the couch, the Trandoshan continues on to crash into a table.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — WORKSHED — SUNSET

A mattock in hand, Nashira hammers at the doors of the gun cabinet. Breaking one of them open, she reaches inside and fishes out a blaster rifle. Shoving a power pack into the weapon, she takes off back for the house.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/KITCHEN — SUNSET

Crashing through a wall together, the Sith and bounty hunter now find themselves in the kitchen.

Picking up a skillet, Anakin drives it into Llomon's gut then up into his chin, knocking the Trandoshan reeling. Quickly finding his wits, the Trandoshan pulls a large butcher knife from a knife holder and, with blinding speed, sends it flying at Anakin. Using the skillet as an ersatz racket, the Sith knocks it away from him. The Sith then pitches the skillet at the Trandoshan, hoping to brain him, but the bounty hunter blasts it before it can connect.

LLOMON: (translator damaged; in Dosh & Basic) Now you die.

Before Llomon can cut Anakin down, Nashira bursts in the kitchen, blaster in hand. Taking aim, she opens fire. Blaster bolts raining all around him, striking his own blaster cannon, Llomon takes aim at Nashira and triggers it. Severely compromised in Nashira's attack, the cannon releases a diffused bolt lacking much of the destructive force it once dealt. Nevertheless, striking Nashira's abdomen, the plasma burns through the material of her jumpsuit, charring the flesh beneath. Releasing a sharp CRY of pain, she collapses.

ANAKIN: (enraged) RAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

Taking a running leap, Anakin throws his leg out to take Llomon's head off. Ducking, the bounty hunter avoids having his cranium crushed into the drywall. Punching Anakin in the face, knocking him to his knees, the Trandoshan prepares to bludgeon the Sith with his malfunctioning blaster cannon. Anakin is quick to recover, though, and delivers a quick flurry of punches to the bounty hunter's gut before the reptilian can land the blow. The wind driven from him, Llomon staggers out of the kitchen.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/LIVING AREA — SUNSET

Returning to the living area, the Sith fetches the damaged carrying case. Retrieving the black warblade, he turns to finish this battle.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/HALLWAY — SUNSET

The Dark Lord of the Sith bearing down on him, Llomon brings his cannon to bear. As the white bolts are released, Anakin positions the blade between them and himself, blocking them. Forced to retreat, Llomon continues firing on the Sith, but the Human blocks each of the attacks. Moving right up to the bounty hunter, Anakin brings his warblade down on the blaster cannon, severing it from the Trandoshan's arm with a shower of sparks.

LLOMON: (in Dosh) No!

Backhanding Llomon, Anakin sends the large Trandoshan sprawling. Planting his warblade in the floor, the Dark Lord seizes the Trandoshan's throat and lifts him up singlehanded.

ANAKIN: (angry) Who are you? (roaring) Answer me!

LLOMON: (choking) Llomon ... bounty hunter….

ANAKIN: Bounty hunter‽ Who sent you? (squeezes) Who sent you‽

LLOMON: (choking) Jukassa!

ANAKIN: (nonplussed) He hired you to do this‽

LLOMON: (choking; in Dosh & Basic) He hired me ... to take you out.

ANAKIN: Then why did you kill the DuQuesnes‽

LLOMON: (choking) They were in the way….

Anakin's face darkens with ever-mounting rage.

ANAKIN: Murderous vermin….

The Sith tightens his fingers around Llomon's throat. CHOKING horribly, the Trandoshan claws at Anakin's wrist with his remaining hand, drawing blood; the Human doesn't feel it at all.

ANAKIN: (crying) They were parents to me. I loved them. (roaring) I loved them!

The Dark Lord of the Sith snaps Llomon's neck. Spasming once, the Trandoshan falls limp. Face livid with rage and contempt, Anakin hurls the lifeless form into a wall, allowing it to slump to the floor, neck bent at an awkward angle.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/KITCHEN — SUNSET

Anakin returns to Nashira. Crouching over her, he takes her chin in his hand tenderly. At his touch, her eyes open.

NASHIRA: (grimaces) It hurts….

Anakin places a hand over the horrible burn. Closing his eyes, he concentrates. In seconds the blisters shrink and the charred flesh regains its natural colour. She is healed.

Taking Nashira's hand, Anakin helps her to her feet.

INT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD/NEMEC & CORIN'S BED CHAMBER — SUNSET

Anakin has brought Corin and Nemec's bodies to their bedroom. Together on the bed, a clean sheet has been lain over their forms.

Lit torch in hand, the Dark Lord sets the bed ablaze.

EXT. DUQUESNE HOMESTEAD — COURTYARD — SUNSET

Leaving the DuQuesne house, Anakin and Nashira climb on Llomon's speeder bike. Kicking the engines to life, he takes them away from the homestead as cleansing fire builds to consume it.

EXT. HIGHWAY — SUNSET

As Anakin and Nashira ride together on the bike, she with her arms wrapped tight around his torso for dear life, the wind blows through their hair, catching Nashira's dark purple cloak and billowing it out behind her. They go headlong into the approaching night.

INT. CORUSCANT — JEDI TEMPLE/SIRI'S FLAT/COMM BOOTH — DAY

COMM: There are zero messages.

Obi-Wan deactivates the comm. His face creases with worry.

INT. JEDI TEMPLE/SIRI'S FLAT/LIVING AREA — DAY

Siri is seated at the caf table, drinking tea from a mug, when her husband emerges from the comm booth.

OBI-WAN: The DuQuesnes still haven't responded.

Obi-Wan joins his wife at the table.

SIRI: (rests hand on Obi-Wan's) You mustn't worry so. These things happen. Maybe the Corporate Sector Authority abolished home comm services. I certainly wouldn't put something untoward like that past them. (beat) I'm sure we'll get through to Corin and Nemec eventually.

OBI-WAN: Anakin's out there somewhere. It's imperative I find him.

SIRI: And I know you will.

They exchange a loving kiss.

SIRI: Obi ...

OBI-WAN: Yes, love?

SIRI: Let's check in on him.

OBI-WAN: You sure?

SIRI: (grins) It couldn't hurt. C'mon.

They leave the caf table.

INT. JEDI TEMPLE/SIRI'S FLAT/DARTH'S ROOM — DAY

Darth is busy soldering connections on a circuit board when a KNOCK is heard at the door.

SIRI: (O.S.) Is it alright if we come inside, Darth?

DARTH: Sure.

The door opens and Obi-Wan and Siri step inside. As the two adults look the room over, they find several pieces of mechanical equipment — some whole, most disassembled — taking up an entire side of the room.

OBI-WAN: Do you think you have enough parts, Darth?

DARTH: (smiles) Get me a functioning hyperdrive, then we'll talk.

Obi-Wan musses Darth's hair while Siri plants a kiss on their new son's cheek.

EXT. SPACE — KORRIBAN

The Slipstream streaks toward Korriban.

EXT. KORRIBAN — VALLEY OF THE SLEEPING KINGS — SLIPSTREAM — DAY

Anakin, Nashira, and Dahlia exit the ship. As soon as they are out in the open, the atmosphere of the valley falls upon the two women — thick and oppressive.

INT. GREAT TEMPLE/BURIAL CHAMBER — DAY

With the women close by his side, Anakin enters the burial chamber. Eyeing the robed-and-armoured mummies seated upon the high obsidian thrones, Nashira and Dahlia shiver palpably.

Stopping in the centre of the chamber, the Dark Lord of the Sith gets down on one knee.

ANAKIN: What is thy bidding, my masters?

As the shadows of the dead Lords rise high above their preserved bodies, the unseen eyes of the awesome and terrifying spectres investigate the women keenly. Nashira and Dahlia both cower.

IRIS OUT

End titles

26/07/2018

S. D. G.


	4. Cast

Kenneth Branagh — OBI-WAN KENOBI

Christian Bale — ANAKIN SKYWALKER

Amy Adams — NASHIRA DUQUESNE

Cameron Bright — DARTH VADER

Naomi Watts — SIRI TACHI

Lance Henriksen — PRE VIZSLA

Laurie Holden — LUH-3417

John Schneider — THX-1138

Dean Stockwell — SN-5241/SN-2249

Bob Gunton — CHLORIAN VADER

Pernilla August — SHMI WARKA

Joy Tanner — DAHLIA KARIN

Jimmy Smits — CAPT. BAIL ORGANA

Catherine Zeta-Jones — CMDR. RAIA VANESS

Temuera Morrison — CMDR. JANGO CODY

Mary-Lynn Rajskub — KATHE NAAD

Jane Fonda — CORIN DUQUESNE

Robert Redford — NEMEC DUQUESNE

Samuel L. Jackson — MACE WINDU

Iman — ADI GALLIA

Jeremy Irons — MARKA RAGNOS

Keegan Connor Tracy — NYKRES EIKHAN

Adrian Pasdar — NAGA SADOW

Doug Jones — LUDO KRESSH

Wayne Pygram — LT. CMDR. WILHUFF TARKIN

Gregory Peck — EMPEROR COS DASHIT

Bruce Boxleitner — SUPREME CHANCELLOR VANTOS COLL

Alice Cooper — KARYON ADDER

David Lynch — CARNIE

Marjorie Monaghan — CMDR. SHERIDAN JEFFREYS

Ray Wise — ATHA PRIME


End file.
